US condemns Syria violence after hundreds killed in sectarian clashes

There are six of us in the house, with my parents and my brothers. There’s been no electricity for four days, no water. We have nothing to eat and we do not dare go out,

he said on condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety

They gathered all the men on the roof and opened fire on them,

Haidar said

There are houses with four or five dead bodies in them,

Haidar said

We turned off the lights and hid. When we were able to flee our neighbourhood of Al Qusour, we found the roads full of corpses,

Kamel, a 35-year-old mother, told AFP

If I had been five minutes late, I would have been killed.”

He managed to escape with his wife and two children to a Sunni neighbourhood, but said

More than 50 people from among my family and friends have been killed,

he added

They entered the building and killed my only neighbour,

he said

What crime did the children commit? Are they also supporters of the (toppled) regime?”

she said

We have appealed to be able to bury our dead,

he said

The crisis has passed safely,

Al-Sharaa stated after attending dawn prayers at a mosque in the Al Mezzeh district of Damascus, as shown in a video shared on social media

Surrender before it is too late."

Meanwhile, interim President al-Sharaa has urged fighters to lay down their arms, warning

We must preserve national unity (and) civil peace as much as possible and, God willing, we will be able to live together in this country,

Sharaa said from a mosque in Damascus

We will not allow for sedition or the targeting of any component of the Syrian people."

Latakia province security director Mustafa Kneifati told the news agency

I've lost seven friends since yesterday. My aunt was killed today near the city of Jableh; she was 78. Please protect us from this holocaust. We are pleading for help,

wrote a desperate Syrian citizen to Haaretz on Saturday

They are now trying to create havoc, disrupt life and attack vital installations,

he added

We are capable of living together in this country, as much as we can,

he added

She said, ‘I am from Idlib. All my family is from Idlib. Please don’t do anything to these people. They are peaceful family,

Wala recounted in a phone interview

I’m shocked, I’m just shocked,

said Mr. Moustafa, a pharmacist

I was so scared for my baby, for my wife,

Mr. Moustafa, 30, said in a telephone interview

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was terrified, terrified,

said Wala, who asked to be identified only by her first name for fear of retribution