Hundreds of Civilians in Syria Take Shelter at Russian Air Base

Hundreds of civilians have sought refuge at a Russian air base on Syria’s coast, satellite imagery reveals, as thousands have fled violent unrest that the United Nations said on Tuesday appeared to have been driven by sectarianism.

Footage and satellite images reviewed and verified by The New York Times indicated that civilians were sheltering in a compound shared by the Russian air base in Hmeimim and Latakia International Airport, both of which lie just outside the coastal city of Jableh, where much of the unrest has taken place.

Videos filmed over the weekend showed a large crowd of people waving placards outside the base and chanting, “We want international protection.” Images taken on Saturday by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite company, appeared to also show hundreds of cars newly parked on roads inside the base. One video showed children and women walking past a line of Russian military vehicles and eating food distributed by men in military fatigues. More than a dozen military tents have also been set up in the airport grounds.

Violence erupted last week in Syria’s coastal region between fighters affiliated with Syria’s new government, led by Ahmed al-Shara, and those loyal to the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad.

More than 1,300 people have so far been killed amid the unrest, largely in the coastal Latakia and Tartus Provinces, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has monitored the Syrian conflict since 2011. The war monitor said on Monday that about 1,000 civilians were included in that figure, most of whom were killed by armed forces affiliated with or loyal to the new government.

That could not be independently verified. The U.N. Human Rights Office said on Tuesday that it had so far documented the killing of 111 civilians, but said that verification continued and the actual number was “believed to be significantly higher.”

The U.N. agency, which monitors and defends human rights, said in a statement that many of the killings it had documented were summary executions “that appear to have been carried out on a sectarian basis.” Entire families had been killed in some circumstances, the agency said, with Alawite areas targeted in particular.

The violence has been centered in the heartland of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam followed by about 10 percent of Syrians. Alawites dominated the ruling class and upper ranks of the military under the Assads, who were themselves members of the sect. The unrest has stoked fears of a renewed sectarian conflict, and presented the most serious challenge yet to Syria’s new Sunni Muslim leaders as they attempt to unite the country after its bloody civil war.

Syria’s interim president, Mr. al-Shara, said on Sunday that the government was forming a fact-finding committee to investigate the violence and to bring the perpetrators to justice. Syrian officials have blamed Assad loyalists for the unrest, and have not yet publicly taken responsibility for the bloodshed. But a trickle of fighters have been arrested by government security forces in recent days after videos spread across social media depicting civilians being killed.

The United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, urged Syria’s new government on Tuesday to ensure that the investigations are “prompt, thorough, independent and impartial,” according to a statement.

In the wake of the Assad regime’s downfall in December, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees returned from countries such as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, according to the United Nations. After more than a decade of war, many hoped that they would now be safe, with Syria’s new leaders promising a new era of stability.

Now, many are trying to leave again.

More than 6,000 people have fled across the border into northern Lebanon in recent days, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency, Lisa Abou Khaled, said on Monday.