1,400 killed in sectarian violence in coastal Syria in March, committee says

Alawite families who fled the clashes in Syria carry their luggage as they cross a river marking the border between Syria and northern Lebanon near the village of Heker (Hussein Malla/AP)

More than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, were killed in several days of sectarian violence on Syria’s coast earlier this year, a government committee tasked with investigating it has said.

The violence was the first major incident to emerge after the ousting of long-time President Bashar Assad in December.