Syria's top Christian leaders have condemned the killing and wounding of hundreds of Alawites, many of them civilians, by security forces and gunmen linked to the country's new Islamist rulers.

The pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need issued "an urgent appeal for prayers for Syria."

"In recent days, Syria has witnessed a dangerous escalation of violence, brutality, and killing, resulting in attacks on innocent civilians, including women and children," warned Syria's senior Christian figures in a joint statement denouncing the deadly attacks starting March 6. The statement was made available to OSV News.

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Archbishop Youssef Absi, the Melkite Greek Catholic patriarch of Antioch and All the East, along with John X, the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, who is Syriac patriarch of Antioch and All the East and the supreme head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, issued the remarks March 8.

The patriarchs referred to widespread killings in the northwest coastal area of Tartus, Banias, Jabla, and Latakia, where heavy clashes have been taking place in the Alawite heartland reported by war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The area was the base of Syria's former Assad regime that brutally ruled the country for 53 years until President Bashar Assad was overthrown late last year. Some observers call this the worst violence in Syria's 14-year-old civil conflict.

Bashar Assad, a minority Alawite, gave preferential treatment to his community over the majority Sunni Muslim population, often repressed.

Syria's new government led by interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said it has faced an insurgency in recent days by loyalists of Assad's Alawite sect.

"The Christian Churches while strongly condemning any act that threatens civil peace, denounce and condemn the massacres targeting innocent civilians, and call for an immediate end to these horrific acts, which stand in sharp opposition to all human and moral values," the church leaders said.

They also urged for "the swift creation of conditions conducive to achieving national reconciliation among the Syrian people."They repeated a call made in December for inclusion of all of Syria's citizens in the new political system. They said a "transition to a state that respects all its citizens and lays the foundation for a society based on equal citizenship and genuine partnership, free from … vengeance and exclusion" was needed.

Regina Lynch, president of Aid to the Church in Need International, said in a March 10 statement that "In these moments of pain and suffering, we turn to the only true source of peace: prayer. We ask all the faithful to raise their voices to the Lord, trusting in his love and power to bring comfort to those who need it most."

According to sources in Latakia close to the charity, who ACN prefers to keep anonymous for security reasons, March 7 was described as "a very black and painful day" in the cities of Tartus, Banias, Jabla, Latakia and the surrounding villages.

The source reported to ACN that "massacres against many Alawites" were taking place, "often indiscriminately, in response to an ambush by some Alawite militants that killed about 20 members of the new security forces.

"The same source stated: "The number of victims is very sad; the majority were civilians, more than 600, who lost their lives, including young people, women, university doctors and pharmacists. Some families with their children were killed in cold blood."

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Among the deceased were also members of Christian communities, such as "a father and son from an evangelical church in Latakia, who were stopped in their car and killed, as well as the father of a priest in Banias," ACN's statement said.

The report provided by the pontifical charity also indicated that homes and vehicles were looted, affecting all, including Christians, forcing some families to take refuge in the homes of Sunni friends. In the Christian village of Belma, "where there are no weapons and most of the residents are elderly, the population endured two days of terror, with the sanctity of homes violated and property stolen."

Observers familiar with the situation told OSV News that a small number of Christians, Kurds and others were also killed in the melee, but they were not specifically targeted due to their religious affiliation or ethnicity.

Lauren Homer, Middle East chair of the Washington-based International Religious Freedom Forum, an international lawyer who monitors events in Syria, decried the upsurge in violence and revenge killings.

"It all stemmed from a decision of a small group of Alawites who decided to declare an insurrection against the HTS leadership of the country in the name of Assad that happened several days ago," she told OSV News.

"The result has been first, the killing of lots of HTS troops and government officials, then this massive retaliation of Alawite citizens. There have been some atrocities prior to this that were relatively small in number. But right now, we are seeing massive retaliation,' she said.

"I think it's the Alawite Association with the Assad regime more than the fact they pursue the Alawite religion (adherents) that is the determining factor," Homer added.

Nadine Maenza, president of the Washington-based International Religious Freedom Secretariat, recently visited Syria.

"People on the ground have said this is more political than it is religious," she told OSV News."But they are intertwined. You can't really divide it. But right now, it really is a targeting of the Alawite community and anyone that's with them. It's unacceptable under any circumstance."

Al-Sharaa's government said it would bring to justice those responsible for the violence, now seen as the most serious challenge to its authority.

Alawites make up approximately 10% of Syria's population of around 24 million. Alawites practice an offshoot of Shitte Islam and are viewed as apostates by some radical Sunni Islamists.

Franciscan Father Bahjat Karakach, parish priest at the St. Francis of Assisi Church in Aleppo, sent a letter on the situation, published by the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions' AsiaNews March 8.

He warns that Syria could be facing another civil war, after nearly 14 years of bloodshed between pro-Assad forces and those who sought to topple the regime.

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"Once again, the Syrians are on the brink of a civil war, so we are really worried."

Father Karakach also said that the current Al-Sharaa government has not yet ensured that “all components of Syrian society” are present in the new ruling structure which he said "is essential to maintain stability in Syria."