Indiscriminate violence in Syria that led to the death of 745 civilians over the last three days has observers wondering if Syria’s newly installed president, the former leader of a designated terrorist group, is committed to reunifying the multi-ethnic nation.

Clashes between Syrian security forces and militias loyal to ousted President Assad raised concerns by religious groups and international leaders who say Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Yezidi minorities were all targeted for slaughter.

“Syrian Christians and Alawites are being slaughtered in Syria by soldiers of the ISIS/AlQaeda terrorist government. The death toll is 1800 in just the last few days, with many victims still missing. Entire villages are being slaughtered by these terrorist govt forces,” reads an X post by the Iraqi Christian Foundation, which advocates for Christians in the Middle East.

Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, announced Sunday that Israel will offer support to Christian religious minorities. 

“We will protect the Druze in Syria — from any threat,” Mr. Katz told reporters on Sunday after announcing an economic aid program for Druze and Circassian minorities in Israel.

“Soon, we will also allow Druze laborers from Syria to come work in the Golan Heights communities in Israel.”

In one of the bloodiest weekends in the last 14 years of Syrian civil war, Syria’s security forces flushed out Assad loyalists after they allegedly attacked a military outpost on Thursday.  The fighting killed 125 government security force members and 148 militants affiliated with Assad, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights. 

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said forces led by Syria’s new military command used tanks and drones to bombard the Mediterranean coastal towns of Latakia and Tartous, home to the Alawite religious minority of which Assad is a member and Iran supports.  Civilians reportedly ran for the mountains to escape the onslaught. 

Reports from human rights monitors showed the fighting expanded beyond the traditional battlefields, leading to bloodbaths of mostly male civilians. Images on social media depicted Syrians being forced to crawl on the ground and bark like dogs, properties looted, and homes destroyed.

In Baniyas, residents told the Associated Press that bodies were strewn on the streets or left unburied in homes and on the roofs of buildings.

One Baniyas resident who fled with his family, Ali Sheha, told the AP that at least 20 of his neighbors and colleagues were killed and left in their shops and homes.

While internationally Syrian security forces have been largely blamed for the attacks, the Civil Peace Group – Seen, which emerged after the overthrow of the Assad regime, posted on its social media that the extrajudicial killings, looting, and arson “were carried out by groups whose affiliations with the authorities remain unclear,” adding that “credible and cross-verified sources have confirmed the involvement of foreign actors.”

On Friday, Syria’s transitional president Ahmad al-Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerre, Mohammed al-Jolani, blamed “remnants” of Assad’s regime for causing the bloodshed and said that security forces will “hunt” down those who have committed crimes against the public. 

“Anyone who attacks defenseless civilians and takes people for the crimes of others will be held accountable … our people in the coastal areas are part of our responsibility and it is our duty to protect them and save them from the evils of gangs of the fallen regime,” he said in a televised statement, according to Syria’s Arabic News Agency, SANA. 

Syria’s transitional government took power in December after a coalition of forces led by Al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group overtook the capital Damascus, forcing Assad to flee. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham was previously associated with Al Qaeda and affiliated with ISIS, but Al-Sharaa has disavowed these associations and said he wants to unite the country. 

On Sunday, Secretary of State Rubio issued a statement hedging any criticism of the Syrian transitional government.

“The United States condemns the radical Islamist terrorists, including foreign jihadis, that murdered people in western Syria in recent days. The United States stands with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities, and offers its condolences to the victims and their families. Syria’s interim authorities must hold the perpetrators of these massacres against Syria’s minority communities accountable,” he said.