Iran's foreign ministry said Monday there was "no justification" for attacks on minorities in Syria, including Alawites, the community to which toppled president Bashar al-Assad, a long-time Tehran ally, belongs.

 

"There is no justification for the attacks on parts of the Alawite, Christian, Druze and other minorities, which have truly wounded the emotions and conscience of both the countries of the region and internationally," said foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei during a weekly press briefing.

 

He also rejected media reports accusing the country of involvement in the violence.

 

"This accusation is completely ridiculous and rejected, and we think that pointing the finger of accusation at Iran and Iran's friends is wrongly addressed, a deviant trend, and a hundred percent misleading," Baghaei said. 

 

Read more: Syrian presidential decree forms committee to probe coastal events

 

Fighting between the new security forces and loyalists of the former government erupted last Thursday, after earlier tensions, and escalated into reported mass killings.

 

Syria's new leader has vowed accountability and an investigation after reports of mass killings of Alawite civilians triggered an international backlash.

 

In its latest toll Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 973 civilians had perished since March 6 in "killings, field executions and ethnic cleansing operations" by security personnel or pro-government fighters in the coastal heartland of the Alawite minority community to which the toppled president belongs.

 

"We will hold accountable, firmly and without leniency, anyone who was involved in the bloodshed of civilians... or who overstepped the powers of the state," Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a video posted by state news agency SANA.

 

Earlier Sunday, the presidency announced on Telegram that an "independent committee" had been formed to "investigate the violations against civilians and identify those responsible for them", who would face the courts.