Syria monitor says three Alawites dead in security operation

A monitor said Thursday that three members of Syria's Alawite minority were killed and property torched during a security operation a day earlier in the coastal province of Latakia.

Provincial authorities declared a curfew in the Latakia towns of Beit Ana and nearby Dalia on Wednesday, saying a security operation followed an attack on "a telecommunications center in the Dalia area by an outlaw group".

In a statement on social media, the authorities later announced the arrest of "number of those involved", without reporting any casualties.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that "security forces descended on the town of Beit Ana on Wednesday evening" and set fire to homes "as well as a school, a shopping area and a sports club during a security operation".

"Two young men from the village, one of them with special needs, were shot dead" during the operation, while the body of a third man was also found with gunshot wounds, said the Observatory.

Houses were set alight in Dalia and a number of men were arrested.

AFP