section_path: Violence and massacres/March/10 March
section_name: 10 March
paragraph_text: 10 March
  
  SOHR reported at least 143 civilian deaths on 10 March, with seventy-one in Hama Governorate, forty-two in Tartus Governorate, twenty-six in Lataika Governorate, and four in Homs Governorate. On 11 March, SNHR published a report on the violence and gave a cumulative total number of documented deaths in Latakia, Hama, Tartous and Homs for the period from 6 to 10 March: at least at least 803 people, including 420 civilians and "disarmed militants" killed by armed forces aligned with Damascus, plus 172 pro-Damascus fighters and 211 civilians killed by pro-Assad forces.
  
  According to SOHR, Syrian Ministry of Defense-affiliated armed groups stormed Harison in the countryside of Baniyas, which had been evacuated after its residents fled into nearby farmlands following earlier attacks. SOHR said the gunmen looted several homes and set many on fire. Residents of Harison demanded immediate intervention and for UN representatives to survey the town. Almost 200 civilians in Baniyas had been killed since 7 March. Survivors reported that the perpetrators included "Syria-based jihadi foreign fighters" from surrounding provinces, along with local Sunni Muslim civilians from neighboring villages enacting reprisals for earlier massacres committed by Assad-loyalist paramilitaries against Sunni residents, including the 2013 Bayda and Baniyas massacres.
  
  SOHR said that the delivery of food supplies and essential needs to coastal Syria and in Lataika and Jableh neighbourhoods had been ceased since the start of the reprisals, This, in conjunction with interrupted water supplies, electricity, and suspended operations of local bakeries, led to a significant deterioration in living conditions, and forced residents to send distress calls.
  
  Dozens of displaced citizens who were taking refuge in the Russian-controlled Khmeimim Air Base in Latakia Governorate held a demonstration against the massacres committed by the Syrian Ministry of Defense and Ministry of the Interior and associated militias. SOHR said efforts by Syrian security forces to convince citizens to leave with promises of renewed security were generally unsuccessful, with many carrying placards protesting against ethnic cleansing and demanding protection from the international community to prevent further massacres.
  
  According to a report by The Guardian citing SNHR, Syrian National Army units Hamza Division and Sultan Suleiman Shah Division were responsible for the majority of killings of civilians.