Syria's interim President Ahmed Sharaa said mass killings of members of ousted President Bashar al-Assad's minority sect were a threat to his mission to unite the country, and promised to punish those responsible,

Once empowered by the regime, many Alawites now face reprisals from rebel factions and displaced Sunni populations who suffered under Assad's rule.

In a speech broadcast on national TV and posted on social media, Sharaa, whose rebel movement toppled Bashar al-Assad in December, also promised to hunt down Assad loyalists. The fighting has also killed 231 members of the security forces and 250 pro-Assad fighters,

The death toll from two days of clashes between security forces and loyalists of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and revenge killings that followed has risen to more than 600, a war monitoring group said Saturday.

The violence that has killed hundreds across Syria reached Damascus and Aleppo on Monday, after Ahmed al-Sharaa vowed to bring those responsible to justice.

Syria's leader vowed on Sunday (March 9) to hunt down the perpetrators of violent clashes pitting loyalists of deposed President Bashar al-Assad against the country's new Islamist rulers and said he would hold to account anyone who overstepped their authority.

More than 700 civilians of the Alawite religious minority have been killed, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

The clashes, which erupted Thursday, marked a major escalation in the challenge to the new government in Damascus, three months after insurgents took authority after removing Assad from power. The government has said it was responding to attacks from remnants of Assad's forces and blamed “individual actions” for the rampant violence.