More than 1,000 people died in four days of clashes after an ambush on a Syrian security patrol by gunmen loyal to ousted leader Bashar Assad. The violence is the worst since December in Syria. Civilians,

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.

In a gripping report by Rizik Alabi for The Media Line, Syria is once again consumed by violence as fighting between pro-Assad rebels and government security forces intensifies in the coastal province of Latakia.