Hundreds of Civilians in Syria Take Shelter at Russian Air Base

Hundreds of civilians have sought refuge at a Russian air base on Syria’s coast, satellite imagery reveals, as thousands have fled violent unrest that the United Nations said on Tuesday appeared to have been driven by sectarianism.

Footage and satellite images reviewed and verified by The New York Times indicated that civilians were sheltering in a compound shared by the Russian air base in Hmeimim and Latakia International Airport, both of which lie just outside the coastal city of Jableh, where much of the unrest has taken place.

Videos filmed over the weekend showed a large crowd of people waving placards outside the base and chanting, “We want international protection.” Images taken on Saturday by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite company, appeared to also show hundreds of cars newly parked on roads inside the base. One video showed children and women walking past a line of Russian military vehicles and eating food distributed by men in military fatigues. More than a dozen military tents have also been set up in the airport grounds.

Violence erupted last week in Syria’s coastal region between fighters affiliated with Syria’s new government, led by Ahmed al-Shara, and those loyal to the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad.

More than 1,300 people have so far been killed amid the unrest, largely in the coastal Latakia and Tartus Provinces, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has monitored the Syrian conflict since 2011. The war monitor said on Monday that about 1,000 civilians were included in that figure, most of whom were killed by armed forces affiliated with or loyal to the new government.

That could not be independently verified. The U.N. Human Rights Office said on Tuesday that it had so far documented the killing of 111 civilians, but said that verification continued and the actual number was “believed to be significantly higher.”