Syria's new authorities under interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa have sought to disband armed groups
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor has reported that 745 Alawite civilians were killed in Latakia and Tartus provinces.
Syrian authorities said the violence began when remnants loyal to Assad launched a deadly and well-planned attack on their forces on Thursday.
There were no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Sharaa was appointed Wednesday to lead Syria for an unspecified transitional period
No group has claimed the four activists' abduction and they have not been heard from since.
Ankara-backed rebels played a key role in supporting Sharaa's Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which headed a rebel alliance that seized Damascus on December 8, toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.
The seismic change in Syria is expected to yield deeper Turkish sway just as a change of US administration is raising questions over how long Washington will keep backing the country's Kurdish-led forces.
Assad fled Syria following a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), more than 13 years after his crackdown on democracy protests precipitated one of the deadliest wars of the century.
Ayoub El Khazzani is said to have told investigators he is "dumbfounded" by accusations he was intending to carry out a terror attack, and insists he was only trying to rob passengers.
Islamic State militants have destroyed Palmyra's ancient temple of Baalshamin, Syrian officials and activists say.
The Italian navy organizes the rescue of around 4,400 migrants in waters off the Libyan coast, prompted by requests for help received from nearly two dozen boats, in one of the biggest multi-national operations so far.
Authorities interrogate a suspected jihadist gunman who was overpowered by passengers on a packed Amsterdam-Paris train, as officials say he had visited Syria and was known to intelligence services
Globalisation is supposed to tear down barriers, but security fears and a widespread refusal to help migrants and refugees have fuelled a new spate of wall-building across the world, even if experts doubt their long-term effectiveness.
A deputy leader of Islamic State (IS), Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, has been killed in a US military strike in northern Iraq, the White House says.
Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria have demolished a Christian monastery in al-Qaryatain town in Homs province.
Eight Turkish soldiers have been killed in a bomb attack in the south-eastern province of Siirt, the army says.
The World Health Organization is calling for "intensified action" to protect health workers treating people in crisis and conflict zone.
A Syrian government warplane crashes in a marketplace in the north-western town of Ariha, killing 17 people.
