The killings occurred in the heartland of Syria’s Alawite minority, escalating after a nascent insurgency formed against the Sunni Islamist government.

The Economist’s Syria correspondent Gareth Browne was in Latakia when violence erupted, seemingly set off by Assad regime loyalists. He tells Becky Anderson about the apparently out-of-control response to what Syria’s government is characterizing as an attempted insurrection.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in an eruption of violence in Latakia and Tartus in the last 72 hours, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

An eruption of violence in Syria over the weekend has led to global calls for peace as the nation sees its deadliest weekend since the fall of the Assad regime in December.

Syria’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa has formed a committee to investigate the violence in some cities that killed hundreds of civilians in recent days and sparked condemnation from the international community.

The violence that has killed hundreds across Syria reached Damascus and Aleppo on Monday, after Ahmed al-Sharaa vowed to bring those responsible to justice.

The clashes marked a major escalation in the challenge to the new government in Damascus, three months after insurgents took authority after removing Assad from power.