UN: Entire families killed in Syrian coastal area

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported today that entire families were killed in the Syrian coastal area as a result of sectarian violence during a military operation launched by Damascus government forces against gunmen loyal to former Syrian regime President Bashar al-Assad.

"In a number of extremely worrying cases, entire families, including women, children and individuals hors de combat, have been killed, particularly in predominantly Alawite cities and villages," said Thameen Al-Khaitan, spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has documented the killing of 111 civilians to date, but the verification process is still ongoing and the actual number of dead is believed to be much higher," he added.

He said during a press briefing in Geneva that the civilian dead included 90 men, 18 women and three children.

He said: "Many of the cases documented are summary executions. They appear to have been carried out on a sectarian basis... Some survivors have told us that many men were shot dead in front of their families."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in turn, stated that the death toll so far has reached 1,093 citizens, in 44 massacres on the Syrian coast.

ANHA