Syrian court sentences three linked to coastal violence 

A Syrian court has issued its first verdicts linked to mass killings in coastal areas last year, with two supporters of the deposed government receiving a death sentence and life in prison, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

The military criminal court in Aleppo on Thursday also sentenced a former member of government forces to 20 years in prison, while a fourth person was acquitted.

The sentences are the first in a judicial process launched last November, when 14 people were accused of involvement in the mass killings. The court has held several public hearings to examine evidence and consider arguments presented by the defendants. Further verdicts are expected next week.

Hundreds of people from the Alawite religious minority, to which ousted President Bashar al-Assad belongs, were killed last March.

The mass killings followed attacks on the new government’s security forces by armed groups aligned with Assad. Counterattacks soon spiralled out of control, targeting civilians in the coastal regions.

The National Commission of Inquiry said last year that it had verified serious violations leading to the deaths of at least 1,426 mostly civilians and identified 298 suspects.

It said that 238 members of the security forces and army had been killed in attacks attributed to al-Assad’s supporters. The commission estimated that authorities sent 200,000 fighters as reinforcements to the region.

The violations were individual and indiscriminate in nature, rather than organised or part of a systematic pattern, according to the commission.

However, a United Nations investigation found that violence targeting civilians by government-aligned factions had been “widespread and systematic”.

A UN commission said that during the killings, homes in Alawite-majority areas were raided and civilians were asked “whether they were Sunni or Alawite”.

“Alawite men and boys were then taken away to be executed,” it said.