section_path: Violence and massacres/March/12 March
section_name: 12 March
paragraph_text: 12 March
  
  On 12 March, SOHR said it had documented further massacres that day in which 158 civilians were killed, the vast majority Alawites: in Hama (Al-Rusafa, 62 killed, and Arza, 22), in Tartous (Baniyas, 34 deaths, and Barmaya, 15), and in Latakia (25 in various locations, including 18 in Sanobar). The death toll reached 1383 by 12 March per the SOHR, with 683 deaths in Latakia, 433 in Tartus, 255 in Hama, and 12 in Homs. SOHR reported five Christians among those killed on 12 March.
  
  The SOHR alleged that burial of massacre victims in mass graves was occurring, asserting that the graves could be manipulated as propaganda by Ministry of Defense forces and associated militias by blaming the mass graves on remnants of the Assad regime.
  
  Rudaw reported that local activists said the massacres had mostly stopped, and there was calm in most Alawite areas, with some bursts of violence along the Syrian-Lebanon border. It reported that the calming of the situation led to Ahmed al-Sharaa to call for national unity, and a ceasefire.
  
  The Syria INGO Regional Forum, a coalition of eighty international non-governmental organizations operating in Syria, reported that large sections of Latakia and Tartus Governorates had no electricity, water, or food due to the deterioration in security from the use of heavy weapons against civilian areas and roadblocks preventing the flow of humanitarian aid. The forum stated that six major hospitals in the region and multiple ambulances were made nonfunctional as a result of the regional violence.
  
  A video appearing to document a Syrian woman in Al-Qabu facing gunmen after they allegedly killed her two children in front of her was spread on Syrian social media platforms. In the video, the gunmen disparaged the women with sectarian anti-Alawite rhetoric. SOHR said that two Shiite civilians were killed: one shot to death as he was returning from work in Al-Zurzuriyah, Homs Governorate, and another found shot to death after being kidnapped a few days prior. SOHR also said that a Christian civilian was shot to death and his fiancée severely injured while driving a motorcycle in Baniyas.
  
  The Governor of North Lebanon reported that over 6,000 Alawite refugees had escaped to Lebanese Alawite settlements near the border, with many families crossing the Nahr al-Kabir to do so.
  
  According to the SOHR, military units affiliated Chechen, Turkestani, and Uzbek units began entering Alawite areas carrying SDF flags. The SDF have no presence in the region, and no SDF soldiers had moved from north-east Syria. According to the SOHR, the deployments are intended to create unrest in Alawite regions.