section_path: Violence and massacres/March/SOHR allegations against the new government
section_name: SOHR allegations against the new government
paragraph_text: SOHR allegations against the new government
  
  On 14 March, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published a series of articles alleging repression by the Damascus government. It did not specify the dates of the alleged incidents.
  
  SOHR alleged that, "according to exclusive information provided to the Observatory", the interim government had implemented significant restrictions on media access to the country's coastal provinces. It alleged that journalists and international media organizations were prohibited from entering the coastal areas, and that existing foreign media personnel were ordered to depart the country within thirty days. According to SOHR, only specific media organizations perceived as sympathetic to the new government were permitted to enter designated areas within the coastal region for reporting purposes. The SOHR said that sources had told it that authorities were restricting the movement of relief teams and humanitarian aid into coastal cities affected by violence. The SOHR characterized the access limitations as "part of a systematic effort to conceal evidence of war crimes and genocide," arguing that restricting journalists' movements represented "a systematic policy to obscure the facts and prevent documentation of violations." The organization said that the isolation of the sites of the massacres from the international community would "paves the way for forced demographic change and the obliteration of evidence of crimes against humanity." It expressed concern that the combination of media restrictions and limitations on humanitarian access could exacerbate suffering in affected communities, while simultaneously reducing international awareness of and response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
  
  SOHR said that it had obtained videos recorded by members of Syria's Ministry of Defense personnel which reportedly documented a "sectarian liquidation operation" and the ongoing "hatred and lawlessness" in targeted villages. SOHR said one showed several individuals identified as Ministry of Defense personnel inside an Alawite residence in an unknown village. The footage reportedly captured the body of a male victim, verbal exchanges between personnel using terminology such as "sectarian cleansing", and direct orders from one individual instructing others to kill any remaining occupants through "field execution" and to take no prisoners, and that one individual is seen holding an Alawite religious symbol. SOHR said a second video showed another individual inside a residence in the Safita area of Tartus countryside, making threats against members of the Alawite sect, vowing for revenge against the sect.
  
  The SOHR reported receiving information indicating that members of the Syrian Ministry of Defense had deliberately set fires across the Latakia countryside. Videos sent to the SOHR showed Ministry of Defense forces setting a fire in a village in the countryside of Qardaha. The acts of arson created massive conflagrations spreading across wide areas of the Latakia countryside, resulting in the destruction of forests, agricultural land, as well as both public and private buildings and property. The fires also caused widespread destruction of forests and villages in the Qardaha countryside, with extensive plumes of smoke reported. The SOHR stated that in addition to the significant threat posed to agriculture and the environment, that the fires endangered the lives of civilians who evacuated from their residences to the forests to escape systematic killings.
  
  The SOHR alleged the existence of a coordinated online campaign attempting to reframe the massacres against Alawite civilians as bilateral conflict between opposing forces rather than targeted attacks against a specific community. It alleged that the campaign appeared to coordinate posting patterns, hashtag manipulation, and the artificial amplification of specific narratives, and particularly focused on economically disadvantaged areas with significant Alawite populations. It said the campaign appeared designed to complicate attribution of responsibility by suggesting that violence was occurring on all sides at the site of the massacres in order to help government forces evade responsibility, and that the campaign appeared to try to influence foreign governments' and organizations' understanding of events to minimize international intervention, and to create an impression of popular support for actions against Alawite communities in Damascus. The SOHR said that these narrative manipulation efforts sought to "obscure the truth about the genocide being perpetrated against the Alawites in the Sahel," potentially undermining accountability mechanisms for those responsible for violence. The observatory also condemned the lack of effort in stopping " hate speech and incitement to murder " since the fall of Assad.