Syria: Islamic militants kill ten people in an Alawite village

Image: Jihad Watch

Gunmen in Syria have killed 10 people in what has been described as a "massacre" in a village populated by members of ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority, according to a war monitor on Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Friday's attack claimed the lives of "10 citizens in Arzah village, located in the northern Hama countryside, which is inhabited by Alawite community members."

The Britain-based monitoring group, which has extensive local sources in Syria, stated that the assailants "knocked on the doors of houses in the village and opened fire on residents using silenced handguns" before fleeing the scene.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Observatory, confirmed that among the victims were a child and an elderly woman. He also noted that the attackers "were Sunni Muslims, and the killings show clear signs of sectarian violence."

According to the Syrian newspaper Al-Watan, which cited a security source in Hama, security forces are now surrounding the Arzah area in pursuit of the perpetrators. It also mentioned that "former officers and soldiers" were among those killed.

A local resident, speaking anonymously due to fear of retaliation, told AFP that two vehicles with seven gunmen entered the village and claimed to be conducting weapons inspections. The assailants then forced the men from their homes, made them kneel, and executed them "in cold blood."

(This Article was originally published by Jihad Watch)