Damascus (AFP) - A Syria war monitor said Friday that security forces “executed” 69 members of the Alawite minority, which toppled president Bashar al-Assad belongs to, a day after deadly clashes with gunmen loyal to him.

In the fiercest attacks on the new authorities since Assad was ousted in December, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 147 people have been killed since the clashes erupted on Thursday along the country’s western coast.

The Britain-based Observatory said that security forces “executed 69 Alawite men in the towns of Al-Shir and Al-Mukhtariya in the Latakia countryside”, citing verified videos and testimonies from relatives of the dead.

The Observatory and activists released footage showing dozens of bodies in civilian clothing piled in the yard of a house, with blood stains nearby and women wailing.

In another clip, men in military garb appear to order three people to crawl on the ground behind each other before opening fire on them at close range.

A third video shared by the Observatory showed a fighter in military garb shooting a man at close range at the entrance of a building, killing him.

AFP could not independently verify the images.

An interior ministry source quoted by official news agency SANA said that “individual violations” had occurred on the coast and pledged to put a stop to them.

“After remnants of the toppled regime assassinated a number of security personnel, popular unorganised masses headed to the coast, which led to a number of individual violations,” the source said.

“We are working to put a stop to these violations that do not represent the Syrian people as a whole.”

Restoring security has been one of the most complex tasks for the new authorities, installed after Islamist-led forces ousted Assad in a lightning offensive.

After Thursday’s clashes, which according to the Observatory left 78 dead including 37 members of the security forces, 34 gunmen and seven civilians, the authorities had launched a sweeping security operation.

A curfew was imposed until Saturday in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, heartland of the ousted president’s Alawite religious minority.

Authorities have also imposed a curfew in Syria’s confessionally divided third city Homs.

The seurity operation “targeted remnants of Assad’s militias and those who supported them”, an official cited by SANA said, as he called on civilians to “stay in their homes”.

On Friday SANA said a security operation was launched in Assad’s hometown of Qardaha, near Latakia.

- ‘Everyone’s afraid’ -

The Observatory reported dozens of people wounded and others taken prisoner by both sides in Thursday’s clashes.

Mustafa Kneifati, a security official in Latakia, said that in “a well-planned and premeditated attack, several groups of Assad militia remnants attacked our positions and checkpoints, targeting many of our patrols” around the coastal town of Jableh.

SANA said that during their operation, security forces detained Ibrahim Huweija, a general who was “accused of hundreds of assassinations” under the rule of Assad’s father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad.

Later on Friday, the authorities announced a security sweep in the Jableh area, defence ministry spokesman Colonel Hassan Abdulghani told SANA.

Ali, a farmer living in Jableh, told AFP he saw “urban battles and street fighting”.

“All night, we heard the sounds of gunfire and explosions,” he said.

“Everyone’s afraid… we are trapped at home and we can’t go out.”

Thursday’s clashes saw security forces conduct helicopter strikes after they clashed with gunmen loyal to Assad-era special forces commander Suhail al-Hassan in the village of Beit Ana.

The strikes had prompted leaders of the Alawite community to call for “peaceful protests”, saying they had targeted “the homes of civilians”.

Tensions had erupted after residents of Beit Ana, the birthplace of Suhail al-Hassan, prevented security forces from arresting a person wanted for trading arms, the Observatory said.

Security forces subsequently launched a campaign in the area, resulting in clashes with gunmen, it added.

- ‘Tinderbox’ -

Syria expert Aron Lund described the situation as a “tinderbox”.

“Both sides feel like they’re under attack, both sides have suffered horrific abuses at the hands of the other side, and both sides are armed,” he told AFP.

Forces led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched the offensive that toppled Assad on December 8, when he fled to Russia with his family.

Syria’s new security forces have since carried out extensive campaigns seeking to root out Assad loyalists from his former bastions.

Residents and organisations have reported violations during those campaigns, including home seizures, field executions and kidnappings, which the authorities have described as “isolated incidents”.

Russia, Assad’s main backer that helped turn the tide of the war in his favour before he was toppled, called on Syrian authorities to “do their utmost to put an end to the bloodshed as soon as possible”.

Iran, another key Assad backer, said it was in “no hurry” to establish ties with the new government.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey reaffirmed their support for the new authorities, while Jordan condemned “attempts to drive Syria toward anarchy”.