Thousands flee Syrian city of Banias fearing new 'massacre'

The violence in the Syrian coastal region shows the sectarian nature of the two-year conflict that has killed thousands and sent more than a million Syrian refugees to neighbouring countries.

Around 4,000 people fled the predominantly Sunni southern parts of Banias, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human rights, amid fears pro-government gunmen "might commit a massacre".

It said at least 10 people, including children, were killed on Friday and the number could be as high as 60.

The Syrian Observatory posted online a video showing the bodies of 10 people it said were killed inhe Ras al-Nabaa district of the city.

The reported exodus comes after claims that at least 50 people were killed in the nearby village of Bayda.

Syria's crisis, that began in March 2011 with pro-democracy protests and later turned into a civil war that has killed an estimated 70,000 people, has largely broken along sectarian lines.

The Sunni majority forms the backbone of the rebellion, while Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, anchors the regime's security services and the military's officer corps. Other minorities, such as Christians, largely support Assad or stand on the sidelines, worried that the regime's fall would bring about a more Islamist rule.

Syria's mountainous coastal region is the Alawite heartland, although it is also dotted with Sunni villages

Also on Saturday, President Bashar al-Assad visited a Damascus campus, his second public appearance in a week.

The report said Mr Assad inaugurated a statue dedicated to "martyrs" from Syrian universities who died in the country's uprising and civil war.

A photograph posted on Assad's Facebook page showed him surrounded by bodyguards as young men, who appeared to be students, waved at him.

The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, reported violence in other areas including the Qusair region in the central province of Homs near the border with Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Israeli officials confirmed that an air strike against Syria earlier on Friday was targeting a shipment of advanced missiles believed to be bound for the Lebanese militant group Hizbollah, an ally of the Assad regime.

Edited by Chris Irvine, telegraph.co.uk