The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented more than 740 civilians killed in the coastal cities of Latakia, Jableh and Banias. A further 300 members of the security forces and remnants of the Assad regime are reported to have died in clashes.

Residents described shootings outside their homes and bodies in the streets in Syria’s worst unrest since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster. More than 1,000 people have been killed since Thursday, a war monitor said.

By Jaidaa Taha and Suleiman Al-Khalidi DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Syrian leader Ahmed Sharaa scrambled on Sunday to contain some of the deadliest violence in 13 years of civil war, pitting loyalists of

DOZENS of people have been killed after soldiers loyal to ousted tyrant Bashar al-Assad launched a surprise ambush on the army of Syria’s new rulers. Ongoing clashes between the two sides

Under Mr Assad Syria sank from middle-income status to abject poverty. Women saw branches off trees for heating. Children scavenge in dumpsters for food. Men pull copper wire from buildings and telecoms cables to sell. The government is broke and banks are running out of cash. “The economy is tanking,” says one of Mr Sharaa’s advisers.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the killings were "one of the biggest massacres during the Syrian conflict".

DAMASCUS - Syrian security forces battled for a second day on Friday to crush a nascent insurgency by fighters from Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect, with scores reported killed as the Islamist-led government faced the biggest challenge yet to its authority.