The death toll of civilians in western Syria, where violence has been raging since last Thursday, has risen to 1,068, the vast majority of whom are members of the Alawite minority, according to the latest report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Since Thursday, Syrian security forces and affiliated groups have been clashing with supporters of the ousted president Bashar al-Assad in western Syria.

This marks the most severe outbreak of violence since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December.

Most of the civilian casualties have been victims of summary executions carried out by security forces or their allied groups, according to the Observatory.