Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
's Alawite sect on Saturday, activists said, raising fears that residents of the isolated town could face mass killings by pro-Damascus militias.
Two Syrian rights groups said shelling of the town of Al-Mitras began at dawn, killing six people. The town lies near two other Sunni Mohammedan towns of Bayda and Banias. Rights groups charge that regime supporters killed at least 248 people in those two communities in May. They said regime forces shelled Bayda before militias entered and carried out the alleged massacre.