Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, called for national unity Sunday, describing the outbreak of violence between government forces and supporters of ousted former President Bashar al-Assad as “expected challenges.”

Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed, with eyewitnesses accusing government supporters of carrying out execution-style killings.

“What is happening in the country are expected challenges. We must preserve national unity and civil peace in the country,” Sharaa said at a mosque in Damascus he said he used to pray at two decades ago.

“We are capable of living together in this country, as much as we can,” he added.

The clashes have killed at least 311 people in Syria since Thursday, according the UK-based independent monitoring group the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), which warned the actual death toll could be much higher.

Militants loyal to Assad have killed a further 147 people – 26 civilians and 121 security forces, SNHR’s director Fadel Abdul Ghani said.

The ongoing clashes are the worst outbreak of violence since Assad – a member of the minority Alawite sect – was toppled in December by Sunni Islamist militants who sought to reshape the country’s political and sectarian order.

Latakia and Tartous on the Mediterranean coast are areas where support among Syrian Alawites for Assad was strong. Alawites – some 10% of the population – were prominent in the Assad regime, and while many Alawites have surrendered their weapons since December, many others have not.

The latest surge in violence highlights the challenges Syria’s new regime faces in appeasing disenfranchised groups, especially those that remain heavily armed.

Romania’s central election authority on Sunday barred far-right pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu from running in May’s presidential election re-run.

The rejection of his candidacy, which was condemned by far-right party leaders as undemocratic, can be challenged at the constitutional court.

Dozens of supporters of the populist Georgescu gathered outside the election bureau shouting “Freedom” and briefly tried to force their way through the security cordon.

Georgescu submitted his candidacy for the May ballot re-run on Friday amid doubts that he would be allowed to run.

Romania’s highest court annulled the ballot two days before the second round of voting in December, citing allegations of Russian interference in Georgescu’s favor, which Moscow has denied.

Members of US President Donald Trump’s administration called Romania’s canceled election an example of European governments suppressing freedom of speech and political opponents.

Tech billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk called the election authority’s decision “crazy” on his social media platform X.

Georgescu is under criminal investigation on six counts, including membership in a fascist organization and communicating false information about campaign financing. He has denied all wrongdoing.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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.

Syria has seen the worst outbreak of violence since the ousting of former President Bashar al-Assad late last year, after armed men descended on Alawite heartlands on Thursday in what Syrian authorities said was an attempt to put down an insurgency by rebels still loyal to the former government.

A UK-based independent monitoring group, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), said that at least 642 people have died in the violence, including scores of civilians who were killed after government forces committed “widespread field executions” of young men and adults.

‘They declared jihad on us’

“Armed men were moving from house to house attacking people as a form of entertainment… They declared jihad on us from all over Syria,” said one resident of the city of Latakia, who chose to remain anonymous through concern for the safety of their family still in the city.

“I fear for my life and the lives of my two children,” Bashir said.

Armed men started heading en masse to Latakia and Tartous on Thursday night after reports of attacks by Assad loyalists against Syria’s new government forces stationed in the Alawite cities.

“I was constantly in touch with my family; they told me there are gunfire sounds,” she said, adding that her family had said they also heard religious chants. Her family were civilians and not pro-Assad, she said.

The Assad family, members of the minority Alawite sect, ruled Syria for over half a century until Bashar was ousted in December by Sunni Islamist militants who sought to reshape the country’s political and sectarian order. The group, led by former al Qaeda militant Ahmad al-Sharaa, promised political equality and representation to the various sects of Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious populations.

Security remains a major challenge for the new administration. Syria’s Alawites – some 10% of the population – were prominent in the Assad regime, and while many Alawites have surrendered their weapons since December, many others have not.

The attacks started this week after reports emerged that Assad loyalists had ambushed and killed members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – the rebel group that spearheaded the rebellion that ousted the former Syrian leader.

A Syrian government source told state media that “individual violations” had been perpetrated after “large, unorganized crowds” traveled to the area.

‘A battle for purification’

Several videos appeared on social media showing convoys of armed men in vehicles heading to the cities of Latakia and Tartous in the run-up to the violence.

“It was the battle for liberation. Now it’s a battle for purification (of Syria),” a narrator accompanying the armed convoys says. It’s unclear when exactly the video was filmed.

“To the Alawites, we’re coming to slaughter you and your fathers,” a man in military fatigues said in what sounded like an Egyptian accent in one of the videos filmed at night.

“These are the Alawite pigs,” a voice is heard saying before shooting an apparently lifeless body on open ground in another video. It was unclear where or when the shooting took place.

Another video circulating on Syrian social media showed a man dressed in military fatigues pull up to a house on a motorcycle, and tell its resident to look at the camera before shooting him.

“I caught you, cheeky,” the attacker says laughing. “Are you still not dead? You’re still not dead,” he says before shooting him again.

In another, a man wearing military fatigues asks a captive to step outside a building, then tells him to bark like a dog before fatally shooting him.

The attacks raise major questions over the new Syrian administration which has made efforts to distance itself from its jihadist past.

“What happened from three months ago until today, equals what the Assads did to us in five decades. The Assads were criminals, and these (new rulers) are also criminals,” Bashir said.

Israel will cut the flow of electricity in the Gaza Strip immediately, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said in a statement Sunday.

“I just signed an order for the immediate halt of electricity to the Gaza Strip,” Cohen said.

“We will operate all of the tools that are at our disposal, to ensure the return of all the hostages,” he said, adding that Israel will ensure that Hamas is not in Gaza for “the day after.”

This comes as mediated talks over the ceasefire and hostage deal are underway, and as Hamas urges the “immediate” start of talks for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, which Israel opposes.

Israel wants to extend the first phase of the deal to continue the exchange of hostages –  but without any commitment to permanently ending the war. Last week, it announced a blockade of all aid into the enclave to pressure Hamas into accepting new terms for an extension of the current ceasefire agreement.

A Hamas delegation had arrived in Cairo on Friday to discuss the ceasefire deal and to push for a potential second phase of the agreement.

Israel had said it has “accepted an invitation” from US-backed mediators to send an Israeli delegation to Doha on Monday, “in an effort to advance the negotiations.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Prince Frederik of Luxembourg has died after a lifelong battle with a rare genetic disorder known as POLG mitochondrial disease.

He passed away on March 1 in Paris, his family announced on the website of the POLG Foundation, which Frederik started in 2022.

“It is with a very heavy heart that my wife and I would like to inform you of the passing of our son, The POLG Foundation Founder and Creative Director, Frederik,” his father Prince Robert of Luxembourg wrote.

The foundation describes POLG as a “genetic mitochondrial disorder that robs the body’s cells of energy, in turn causing progressive multiple organ dysfunction and failure.”

It said the disease has no treatment or cure.

“Frederik and the POLG Foundation … are committed to finding therapies and a cure to save other patients from suffering what Frederik and our family have endured,” his father wrote.

Prince Frederik died a day after Rare Disease Day. He was in his early 20s.