Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports 745 Alawite civilians killed in Latakia and Tartus provinces, overall death toll at 1,018.

Syria's government announced a probe following the killing of 830 Alawite civilians, causing international backlash and condemnation. Clashes have erupted in the heartland of the Alawite minority since Assad's overthrow.

The United Nations on Sunday said reports of entire families being killed in northwestern Syria was "extremely disturbing" and it called for an immediate halt to the violence.UN rights chief Volker Turk demanded prompt investigations into the killings and said those responsible must be held to account.

Volker Turk expresses concern on a serious escalation of violence in Syria, calling on caretaker authorities to protect civilians and punish perpetrators of the crimes.

More than 700 civilians of the Alawite religious minority have been killed, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

International alarm is growing over fighting in western Syria, where hundreds of civilians have been reportedly killed amid intense clashes.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in fighting between forces of the new government and remnants of the ousted regime, according to a war monitor, which said about 700 were civilians.

Security forces from the new Syrian regime are said to have killed 700 in former President Assad's coastal heartland. The President has called for calm.

More than 1,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in Syria over the last several days according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The conflict is between remaining loyalists to ousted President Bashar al-Assad and forces belonging to the country’s new government which took over after Assad fled the country in December.