Christians and other religious minorities in Syria are sounding the alarm as more than 1,000 people have been killed since last Thursday in what rights groups describe as some of the worst atrocities

Syria’s interim government has announced the end of a days-long military operation against insurgents loyal to ousted president Bashar Assad and his family.

Over 1,300 people have been killed in fierce clashes between government forces and gunmen loyal to the Assad regime, according to a war monitor, in a serious challenge to the country’s new rulers.

The government of Syria says it has ended an operation in the coastal governorates of Latakia and Tartous after four days of fighting between security forces and pro-Assad armed fighters. The unrest came only three months after the fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad in an offensive by opposition fighters.

Syria’s central government has signed a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast. It’s a major breakthrough for Interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa. It comes as the defence ministry says it’s completed its operation against supporters of ousted president Bashar Al-Assad in his coastal heartland.

The reported fighting in the capital, Damascus, and the second city of Aleppo marked the first such clashes there since the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in clashes in the coastal provinces of Syria, according to one war monitoring group.