Syria leader issues plea for national unity, peace

DAMASCUS - Syrian leader Ahmed Al Sharaa called on Sunday for peace and national unity after days of clashes between security forces and loyalists of the former government that have killed more than 1,000 people, most of them Alawite civilians.

"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 in a speech delivered from a mosque in a neighbourhood of Damascus where he spent part of his childhood.

He added that as long "the mosques have taught their children morality... and fairness and justice among the people, there is no fear for Syria, God willing".

The clashes along Syria's Mediterranean coast have escalated into the largest challenge to the new government's security forces since Sharaa's Islamist-led coalition toppled Assad in December.

The coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus are the heartland of the country's Alawite minority, the religious group to which the Assad family belonged.

The fighting has killed 125 members of the new government's security forces and 148 pro-Assad fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights figures, taking the overall death toll to 1,018.

Restoring security is a major challenge for the new government after more than 13 years of civil war, while Sharaa has sought to reassure minorities their rights will be protected.