Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa called for national unity and peace on Sunday, after more than 1,000 people were reportedly killed in coastal Syria in the worst clashes since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.

The violence erupted on Thursday between the new security forces and loyalists of the former government along the Mediterranean coast in the heartland of the Alawite minority to which Assad belonged, before escalating into massacres against Alawite civilians that left hundreds dead.