Syria's interim President Ahmed Sharaa said mass killings of members of ousted President Bashar al-Assad's minority sect are a threat to his mission to unite the country and vowed to punish those responsible, including his allies if necessary.
Hundreds of deaths have been reported in four days of clashes between Alawite Muslims and Syria's new Sunni Islamist authorities. Sharaa blamed foreign-backed pro-Assad groups for causing the bloodshed, but acknowledged that revenge killings had followed.
"Syria is a state of law. The law will take its course for everyone," he told Reuters from the Damascus presidential palace, where Assad resided until Sharaa's forces overthrew him on December 8, forcing the ousted ruler to flee to Moscow.
"We fought to protect the oppressed and we will not accept that any blood be shed unjustly, or go unpunished or unaccounted for, even among those closest to us," Sharaa said.
Sharaa also said his government had not had contact with the United States since President Donald Trump took office. He repeated calls for Washington to lift sanctions imposed during the Assad era.