Armed men affiliated with Syria’s toppled regime carried out surprise attacks on the port city of Latakia and other Mediterranean areas, killing more than a dozen security people in some of the fiercest confrontations since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad in December.

Fighting in the western Syrian city of Latakia threatens to undermine efforts to achieve unity and solidarity in Syria, Turkey's foreign ministry said on Friday, adding that "such provocations" must not be allowed to jeopardise peace.

Syria, a nation exhausted by more than a decade of civil war, has once again plunged into chaos as violent clashes erupted between armed rebels and government security forces in the coastal province of Latakia.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 52 people belonging to the Alawite minority were executed in the coastal province of Latakia.

The attacks came hours after the United States confirmed that it had limited Ukraine's access to commercial satellite imagery, on top of pausing military and intelligence aid. Also on the programme: we'll have more on reports that the minority Alawite community has been targeted by government troops in Latakia,

Forces linked to the new government have been battling Assad loyalists in in the port cities of Latakia and Tartous, where dozens of people are reported to have been killed. In our conversations, two women discuss new freedoms but also share fears about safety and women’s rights.

Clashes between government security forces and supporters of ousted former President Bashar al-Assad have killed at least 311 people in Syria since Thursday, according to a monitoring group that warns the actual death toll could be “much higher.

Syrian security forces deployed heavily in the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast on Saturday, after a war monitor reported that government and allied forces killed nearly 750 civilians from the religious minority in recent days.

Hundreds of people, including over 125 civilians, have been killed along Syria’s Mediterranean coast in what authorities consider the deadliest burst of violence since Islamic rebels replaced President Bashar al Assad’s forces.

In the worst outbreak of unrest since Syria’s transitional government took power, hundreds of people have been killed or wounded in clashes between the security forces and supporters of former President Bashar al Assad this week,

A war monitor says two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and gunmen loyal to former President Bashar Assad have left more than 200 people dead.