Fierce clashes over the past two days between security forces under Syria’s new Islamist government and gunmen belonging to the country’s Alawite religious minority killed scores of people, marking the most widespread violence since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Syria's leader Ahmed Al Sharaa on Friday urged insurgents loyal to ousted president Bashar Al Assad to lay down their arms and surrender after the fiercest attacks the the war-torn country has yet seen.