The first trial of more than a dozen suspects linked to massacres that left hundreds dead in Syria’s Alawite coastal heartland earlier this year began on Tuesday, an AFP journalist in the courtroom said.

The massacres in March, which authorities say broke out after attacks by supporters of the ousted president, Bashar al-Assad, against their forces, left at least 1,426 people dead, most of them civilians, according to a national commission of inquiry.

Seven men, including former military personnel, accused of attacking government forces, and seven members of the forces loyal to the new Islamist authorities, appeared in court.

“The court is sovereign and independent,” said Judge Zakaria Bakkar as the trial opened in northern Syria’s Aleppo.

Assad’s supporters are being prosecuted for “sedition, incitement to civil war… attacks against law enforcement, murder, looting, and vandalism,” according to the indictment.

The seven accused from government forces are being prosecuted for “premeditated murder”.

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The next hearing for the supporters of Assad’s ousted regime was set for December 18, and the members of the government forces were set for December 25.

The commission said it had verified serious violations leading to the deaths of mostly civilians, and identified 298 suspects.

It claimed 238 members of the security forces and army had been killed in attacks attributed to Assad’s supporters.

Islamist authorities then sent reinforcements to the region, with the commission estimating their number at 200,000 fighters.

Syrian and international monitoring groups reported sectarian massacres, in which entire families were killed by government forces, armed groups allied with the government, and armed volunteers, including summary executions.

AFP