Gunmen kill dozens in Syrian Alawite town, sources and war monitor say

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Gunmen killed at least two dozen male residents of an Alawite town in Syria's rural coastal region on Friday, two Alawite activists and a war monitor said, citing contacts in the region and video footage from the scene.

Reuters was able to verify the location in the video as Al Mukhtareyah, near the main M4 highway, using a road, buildings, trees and a utility pole which matched satellite imagery of the village. It showed at least 20 men lying in close proximity - some bloodied - by the side of a road in the town centre.

The precise date filmed, and who filmed it, could not immediately be verified but the direction of shadows showed it was filmed in the morning in the past two months. Reuters was unable to confirm independently what had happened in the location.

Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted by the rebels-turned-rulers Hayat Tahrir al-Sham last year, drew heavily on the Alawite community for the former security apparatus and bureaucracy of the Syrian state.

Alawite activists say their community has been subjected to violence and attacks since Assad fell, particularly in rural Homs and Latakia.

Rami Abdulrahman, of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said local sources had told his organisation that 38 men from the country's Alawite minority had been killed execution-style in the town.

"Gunmen coming from the direction of the Idlib region arrived at dawn and rounded up the men while telling the women to remain at home. The men were then executed," Abdulrahman said.

The two Alawite activists, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the killings were on Friday and blamed them on gunmen affiliated with Syria's new Islamist ruling authority.

A government spokesperson and two officials linked to the ruling authority did not immediately respond to texts seeking comment.

Security forces have sent reinforcements to the coastal region from their stronghold of Idlib and neighbouring areas to crush a nascent insurgency by fighters they say are linked to Assad.

Abdulrahman said the observatory had verified several other incidents in the past 24 hours where Alawite men had been killed or were humiliated, including being made to bark like dogs. Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.

(Reporting by Timour Azhari in Beirut; Editing by Timothy Heritage)