Syria's leader vowed on Sunday (March 9) to hunt down the perpetrators of violent clashes pitting loyalists of deposed President Bashar al-Assad against the country's new Islamist rulers and said he would hold to account anyone who overstepped their authority.

By Jaidaa Taha and Suleiman Al-Khalidi DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Syrian leader Ahmed Sharaa called for peace on Sunday after hundreds were killed in some of the deadliest violence in 13 years of civil war,

Syrian war monitor says more than a thousand people have been killed during days of fighting between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted longtime President Bashar al-Assad. The violence erupted on Thursday across the Latakia and Tartus provinces,

Armed men loyal to the Syrian government carried out field executions and spoke of purifying the country, according to eyewitnesses and video, providing a gruesome picture of a crackdown against remnants of the former Assad regime that spiraled into communal killings.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the violence by ‘radical Islamic terrorists’ and expressed support for minority sects in Syria.