Well, the Champions League round of 16 concluded on Wednesday night with some unforgettable second legs and plenty of penalty shoot-out drama. Not only did Paris Saint-Germain eliminate Liverpool on spot-kicks at Anfield this week, but Real Madrid emerged from a trip to rivals Atletico Madrid with a similar victory after 120 tension-packed minutes to complete the field for the quarterfinals.

All in all, the ties offer plenty to talk about, from Arsenal getting a shot at Real Madrid to Aston Villa hoping to take down Paris Saint-Germain in what should be an electric affair. And how about Inter Milan taking on the presumptive champions of Germany, Bayern Munich?

While the dust settles on this week’s mayhem, let’s take a way-too-early look at how we think the quarterfinals — to be played April 8/9 and April 15/16 — will play out as Mark Ogden, Gabriele Marcotti, Beth Lindop, Rob Dawson and Julie Laurens make their predictions.

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QF ONE: Arsenal vs. Real Madrid

First leg: April 8 | Second leg: April 16

OGDEN: Arsenal are Champions League rookies at this stage of the competition, and maybe the biggest club never to win it. Against Real Madrid, that matters. Real have absolutely no inferiority complex, no doubts when it comes to the Champions League, but there are question marks all over this Arsenal team — principally, who can score the goals to win the tie?

Meanwhile, Real have too much firepower and they win in every department, including on the touchline with Carlo Ancelotti overshadowing Mikel Arteta. There is a real danger of Arsenal being taken back to school in this tie. Real Madrid advance, 4-1 on aggregate

MARCOTTI: Real Madrid’s pedigree and star quality suggest they’ll go through, but there are factors Arsenal can exploit. Starting with the fact that they’ve clearly given up on the league, which means between now and April 8, if I’m Arteta, all I’m doing is preparing this game.

If he’s going to stick with Mikel Merino up front — it’s an absurd situation that was wholly avoidable, but let’s not go over old ground here — he needs to tweak his patterns of play so that he becomes an asset in the final third, and not just an out-of-position passenger. Remember when we used to bang on about Arsenal and their set pieces? Well, that guy is still there and set-piece defending is not Madrid’s forte.

I actually think this is going to be closer than many expect. Madrid still aren’t clicking, LaLiga’s title race is draining and too often the game plan is wait for Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham or Vinicius Jr. to do something (or for Fede Valverde to leather it from deep). If that happens, there’s no much you can do, but if it doesn’t and this game is decided on football and tactics, it’s a toss-up. Real Madrid advance, 1-0 on aggregate

LAURENS: Real Madrid will be the favorites, especially with the second leg at the Bernabeu. Arsenal are struggling for creativity at the moment, unless they play PSV Eindhoven. They don’t have a proper No.9, even with the return from injury of Gabriel Martinelli.

It might not be a bad thing for the Gunners to be the underdogs and they’ve hopefully learned a lot from their loss at this stage of the competition last season against Bayern Munich. But Real Madrid are the Kings of Europe, the reigning champions. There is an aura about them in this competition, and it will count for sure next month. Real Madrid advance, 4-2 on aggregate

DAWSON: Arsenal’s season, which showed some early promise, is in danger of petering out into nothing. The title has gone; all they’ve got left is the Champions League. The first leg against a sloppy PSV Eindhoven aside, Arsenal are struggling to score goals and the rest of the campaign could now become a real slog. It wouldn’t be a massive surprise if they found themselves slipping down the Premier League table.

Mikel Arteta’s side would struggle to beat Real Madrid even if they were in fantastic form and they won’t have enough up front to knock out the kings of the Champions League. Real Madrid advance, 4-1 on aggregate

LINDOP: When it comes to the Champions League, only a fool would bet against Real Madrid. Carlo Ancelotti’s side were some way from their best against Atlético in the round of 16, but as they so often do, they found a way. It is that innate belief in their own abilities — plus their wealth of talent — that will surely give them the edge over Arsenal, who are desperately in need of an attacking spark and have not yet demonstrated they have what it takes to get over the line at the highest level. Real Madrid advance, 4-2 on aggregate

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QF TWO: Paris Saint-Germain vs. Aston Villa

First leg: April 9 | Second leg: April 15

OGDEN: PSG are a really, really good team and their win at Liverpool will give them the confidence that they can finally win the Champions League this season. They tore Man City apart at Parc des Princes in the League Phase, and also made Liverpool look ordinary over two legs. So despite Villa’s great run to the quarters, there is only one winner in this tie and that’s PSG. Vitinha, João Neves and Ousmane Dembélé have been outstanding in recent weeks and they’ll be way too good for Villa. PSG advance, 4-1 on aggregate

MARCOTTI: I’m fascinated by the clash between PSG bosses past and present. Luis Enrique is a genius, but he’s also like Icarus: he flies too close to the sun, gets a little too fancy and presto! — he gets dumped on his backside. That’s what Emery — who, let’s face it, is the opposite — is going to try to do, exploiting whatever flaws he spots in this team. He also won’t hesitate to go long time and again to break the press if he has to, or even get a little ugly if it means winning.

Logic suggests PSG so I’ll go with that, but underestimate Emery in a knockout setting at your peril. PSG advance, 4-3 on aggregate

LAURENS: This is the tie of old friends reunited! Emery meets the club he managed from 2016-18 with highs (the win against Barcelona) and the lows (the loss against Barcelona). Then you have Lucas Digne, Paris-born and a former PSG player (2013-2015).

What about Marco Asensio? Loaned out in January by PSG to Villa, where his impact has been great already with seven goals so far. You also have Marcus Rashford going back to the Parc des Princes five years after he knocked out PSG with Manchester United. Bouba Kamara, former Marseille midfielder, will face again his old enemy, while Axel Disasi is also Paris-born and once played for the other Paris team, Paris FC.

Even with the second leg at home, Aston Villa are the outsiders against this PSG team, currently the best in Europe. PSG advance, 4-2 on aggregate

DAWSON: PSG have made themselves one of the favourites to win the whole thing after dumping Liverpool. They’ll certainly fancy their chances against Aston Villa, but Villa will also see a chance to go through: Emery might even admit privately that he’s happy facing PSG rather than Liverpool.

It seems as though PSG have hit another level since beating Manchester City 4-2 in January and while Emery will relish the opportunity to out-wit his former club, PSG’s quality should be decisive over two legs. The game at Villa Park will be tight, although it could be all over after the first leg in Paris. PSG advance, 4-2 on aggregate

LINDOP: Aston Villa have been transformed under Emery and his record in European competition is impressive. However, PSG are my favourites to go on and win the competition this season.

Having been lucky enough to be in the stadium for both legs of their round-of-16 tie with Liverpool, I can confidently say they look like the best team in Europe at the moment and, even with the second leg at Villa Park, I think PSG will have far too much for the Premier League side. PSG advance, 5-2 on aggregate

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First leg: April 9 | Second leg: April 15

OGDEN: There’s no reason to back Borussia Dortmund to win this tie other than the fact that they have the ability to somehow produce their best in the Champions League when their domestic form is average at best. Dortmund scraped past Lille to make it this far, but it’s tough to see them keeping Barcelona quiet over two legs. This looks like the most one-sided tie of the round and Barca should win comfortably. Barcelona advance, 4-1 on aggregate

MARCOTTI: Dortmund, lest we forget, are in the bottom half of the Bundesliga, which is why this is a serious mismatch. There’s plenty of pace in the wide areas for Dortmund, so I guess some sort of game plan where they try to exploit Hansi Flick’s high line might be the way to go for Nilo Kovac? Problem is, everybody tries to do that against Barca and few succeed.

I’m not sure how they plan on ever getting the ball back in midfield (and Pascal Gross is suspended too), and the prospect of Lamine Yamal and Raphinha against whatever defensive combination — Yann Couto, Ryerson or Rami Bensebaini? — Kovac pulls out of the hat is scary. Barcelona advance, 3-0 on aggregate

LAURENS: Barcelona will destroy this average Dortmund team, make no mistake about it. Barça are too good going forward, have two of the best and most in-form players in the world (Lamine Yamal, Raphinha), they have a dominant midfield, a great bench and even if they are sometimes exposed defensively thanks to Flick’s insistence on a super-high high defensive line, Dortmund won’t be able to stop them anyway.

BVB boss Kovac has been on their bench for a month, but has not made much of an impact despite their run to the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, unless something dramatic happens to the Barcelona superstars, they stand no chance next month. Barcelona advance, 5-0 on aggregate

DAWSON: Barcelona made relatively light work of Benfica in the last round despite playing with 10 men for most of the first leg, and they’ll be heavy favourites to reach the last four. Borussia Dortmund reached the final last year, but they’re having a difficult season. They’re 10th in the Bundesliga for a reason.

Barcelona played Dortmund in the league phase in December and came away from Signal Iduna Park with a 3-2 win. Dortmund’s best hope is to get a result in the first leg in Spain and then try to nick something at home. However, it’s more likely that Barcelona will win both games and cruise into the semifinals. Barcelona advance, 5-1 on aggregate

LINDOP: Barcelona have been one of the most entertaining teams in this season’s competition and alongside PSG, they look most qualified to go on and win the whole thing. Raphinha and Yamal are both in superb form at the moment and, while Signal Iduna Park can produce a special atmosphere on Champions League nights, it’s hard to see Dortmund being able to live with Barcelona’s quality over the two legs.

I predict a comfortable win for the Spanish league leaders. Barcelona advance, 4-1 on aggregate.

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QF FOUR: Bayern Munich vs. Inter Milan

First leg: April 8 | Second leg: April 16

OGDEN: This is my tie of the round in terms of the magnitude of the two clubs, the clash of styles and what boils down to Inter’s rock solid defence measuring up against Bayern’s goal threat from Harry Kane, Kingsley Coman, Jamal Musiala and Michael Olise. Bayern have scored 28 goals in the competition, Inter just 15, but Inter have conceded just two goals, and kept 8 clean sheets, so far.

Bayern have conceded 14 goals already, so I’m taking Inter’s solidity to be the deciding factor. Inter Milan advance, 2-1 on aggregate

MARCOTTI: I think this is really tight. Bayern are in a transition season and generally haven’t been impressive but they’re 8 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga and just beat Leverkusen 5-0 on aggregate. That has to mean something, right?

I think it’s also hugely relevant that, while Inter have a big squad and Inzaghi loves to rotate, they’re showing signs of wear and, unlike Bayern (whose domestic season is over), they’re in a dogfight for the Serie A title and have a derby against Milan coming up in the Coppa Italia. That’s why I’m leaning Bayern in this one: they’re going to be far fresher. Bayern Munich advance, 3-2 on aggregate

LAURENS: This is without doubt the tie I’m the most looking forward to seeing! Inter are by far the best defence in the competition so far and Bayern, even with their attacking firepower, will have to be really good to trouble them. On the other hand, the Italian front two of Lautaro Martínez and Marcus Thuram could hurt any team. Tactically, Simone Inzaghi has surely the upper hand in terms of experience and savoir faire than Vincent Kompany but it will be interesting to see how Inter deal with the German’s press, especially in Munich. Inter Milan advance, 2-1 on aggregate

DAWSON: Bayern Munich are well on their way to reclaiming the Bundesliga title, but they’re form in the Champions League has been mixed. There were defeats at Aston Villa, Barcelona and Feyenoord in the league phase and they only just scraped past Celtic in the play-off round. They’ll rely on an attacking threat spearheaded by Harry Kane — who has got 10 goals in 11 games in Europe this season — but Inter Milan are disciplined and organised under Simone Inzaghi. A tight tie, it may come down to a tactical battle on the touchline and Inzaghi has the edge over Vincent Kompany. Inter Milan advance, 3-2 on aggregate

LINDOP: I think either way, this tie is going to be tight. Bayern Munich are doing well domestically and have some really talented attacking players, spearheaded by the talismanic Kane. However, their performances in the Champions League haven’t been entirely convincing this term and Inter’s defensive discipline, coupled with the power of the San Siro, might just prove to be their undoing.

I think this could be the most tactically interesting of the quarter-final ties, with Inter just edging it for me on aggregate. Inter Milan advance, 3-2 on aggregate

LAKE CHARLES, La. — Quadir Copeland scored 18 points and McNeese defeated Lamar 63-54 in a cold-shooting, defensive battle on Wednesday, giving the Cowboys back-to-back Southland Conference tournament championships.

The top-seeded Cowboys (27-6) will be making their fourth appearance in the NCAA tournament.

The Cowboys led wire-to-wire. The lead was 31-22 with two minutes remaining in the first half before 3-pointers by second-seeded Lamar’s Andrew Holifield and Alexis Marmolejos sparked an 8-2 run. McNeese led 33-30 at halftime.

The defensive battle continued in the second half as McNeese went 5-for-15 and Lamar 5 for 23 in the first 12½ minutes after halftime. McNeese led 47-41 at the under-8 timeout.

Sincere Parker made four free throws to help the Cowboys maintain their lead over the next several minutes and they finally got their next made field goal on a dunk by Christian Shumate to lead 53-46 with three minutes remaining. Shumate’s dunk was the Cowboys’ last field goal attempt and they finished off the win with a series of 10 made free throws.

Lamar made two field goals in the last seven minutes, both in the final 47 seconds. McNeese made one shot in the final seven minutes.

For the game, McNeese shot 42% and Lamar made 31%.

DJ Richards had 10 points for McNeese before fouling out with 1:42 remaining on a double technical with Lamar’s Errol White, who also fouled out.

Marmolejos scored 18 points, Holifield 15 and Adam Hamilton 11 for Lamar.

Lamar has made seven trips to the NCAA tournament, the last in 2012.

Pakistan security forces on Wednesday claimed to have rescued at least 155 passengers and killed 27 Baloch rebels as the rescue operation continues into the second day after terrorists hijacked the Jaffer Express train near Balochistan’s Bolan district.

Pakistan Railway officials said that around 750 passengers had booked to travel by the Jaffar Express, but the train left Quetta with around 450 people onboard. Sources said that over 200 security personnel were also travelling on the same train.

Balochistan is experiencing its worst phase of insurgency of all the four phases it has witnessed since 1948, a security expert told ET. This phase could be the defining moment in Balochistan’s history and its fight with Punjabi-dominated Pakistan governance structure. The daring nature of the hijack reflects a major Intelligence failure of the ISI and Pakistan Army, a source pointed out.

Chinese reaction to the incident will be keenly watched.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has threatened to execute ten Pakistani hostages following drone strikes and artillery shelling by Pakistani forces amid the ongoing hostage crisis in Balochistan’s Bolan district.

In a statement issued to the media, BLA spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch accused Pakistan’s military of carrying out “irresponsible and foolish military aggression,” alleging drone strikes and artillery shelling of targeted positions held by BLA fighters near the hijacked Jaffar Express train.He said the attacks proved Pakistan is “incapable of making serious decisions regarding prisoner exchange”, and accused authorities of being “driven solely by war madness and stubbornness.”However, he claimed none of the BLA fighters were harmed due to their “excellent defensive tactics and complete battlefield control.”

“In response to today’s reckless bombardment, we are forced to execute ten more hostages immediately,” Mr Baloch warned. He threatened: “If Pakistani forces launch another attack—even a single bullet—ten additional hostages will be executed immediately.”

Seven genes have been linked to particularly fast ageing of the brain – but 13 drugs and supplements might reduce their effects.

The activity of many genes contributes to the difference between our actual age and the biological age of our brains, defined by how old our cells indicate we are, which creates what is known as a brain age gap.

To find genes that accelerate brain ageing and widen this gap, Zhengxing Huang at Zhejiang University in China and his colleagues trained a deep-learning model called 3D-ViT on some medical records and used others to check it gave accurate responses.

They then used it to analyse data from nearly 39,000 people who had health, genetic and lifestyle information, along with biological samples, stored in the UK Biobank. These participants were 64 years old, on average, and about half were women.

3D-ViT identified signatures in the participants’ MRI scans that could be used to estimate their biological brain age. Signs of accelerated ageing particularly appeared in brain regions known as the lentiform nucleus, which is involved in cognition, such as attention and working memory, and the posterior limb of the internal capsule, which connects various regions to the brain’s cerebral cortex – used for thought and language processing.

Huang and his colleagues also found that the participants’ scores on cognition tests dropped as their brain age gap increased­.

Comparing their gene variants with the size of their estimated brain gaps flagged 64 influential genes, but Huang and his colleagues focused on seven: MAPT, TNFSF12, GZMB, SIRPB1, GNLY, NMB and C1RL, partly because these all have a particularly strong effect on brain ageing.

Clinical trials have also shown that their activity can be targeted by 13 drugs or supplements. These include cholecalciferol, a supplement for vitamin D deficiency; dasatinib, a leukaemia drug; diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory; doconexent, an omega-3 fatty acid; estradiol, the type of oestrogen commonly used in hormone replacement therapy; hydrocortisone, commonly used to treat eczema; and mecamylamine, a drug that lowers blood pressure.

The others were nicotine; prasterone, which relieves vaginal pain during sex during the menopause; the supplements quercetin and resveratrol; sirolimus, which is commonly used to suppress the immune system after a kidney transplant; and testosterone.

But the researchers write that people “should be encouraged to consider the potential risks associated with taking medications or supplements for slowing down aging as these interventions may have unintended negative consequences”.

Many genes have an effect on brain ageing, but here the authors have used an approach that prioritises those with the largest effect, says Dario Valenzano at the Leibniz Institute on Aging in Jena, Germany. “The work provides concrete targets for direct follow-up experimental and clinical interventions.”

But it is hard to tell how large an effect on brain ageing these genes actually have, says Richard Siow at King’s College London. “Just because you have a certain genetic profile doesn’t mean the genes will always play a role.”

Genes can be silenced or switched on by various lifestyle and environmental factors, he says, such as smoking and high alcohol consumption. These can also predispose people to cognitive decline or brain ageing.

Because the study used data in the UK Biobank, we don’t know whether the findings translate to people around the world, says Siow. Work is needed in other populations, such as those in Africa, South America and East Asia, to find that out, he says.

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SpaceX won’t launch its next astronaut mission for NASA today (March 12) after all.

The company had planned to send the four-person Crew-10 mission toward the International Space Station (ISS) atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida this evening at 7:48 p.m. EDT (2348 GMT). About 45 minutes before liftoff, however, SpaceX called the attempt off due to a hydraulics issue with the transporter-erector, the structure that hauls the Falcon 9 to the pad and supports it once it’s there.

“Great working with you today,” Crew-10 commander Anne McClain of NASA told launch controllers after the scrub. “Kudos from the whole team, I know it was a lot of work to try to go, but like I said earlier, we’ll be ready when the equipment is.”

The problem involved a clamp arm on the transporter-erector, NASA officials said during the agency’s launch webcast today. There were no issues with Crew-10’s Falcon 9 or its Crew Dragon capsule, named Endurance.

Massive layoffs initiated this week at the U.S. Department of Education could hamstring the federal government’s efforts to assist students with disabilities, former officials and education experts said, citing blows to the agency’s civil rights and research divisions. 

On Tuesday, the department began laying off around 1,300 employees, cutting nearly half the staff within its Office for Civil Rights and over 100 from the Institute of Education Sciences, according to information released by the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, the union for department staff.  

The cuts in those two divisions mean that there will be far fewer staff to finish the 12,000 pending federal investigations into allegations of civil rights violations at schools — roughly half of which involve disability issues — and fewer employees to review and distribute government-funded research into effective ways to educate children with autism or severe intellectual disabilities. 

The layoffs are the first step toward dismantling the department, a goal espoused by President Donald Trump and his education secretary, Linda McMahon. But experts say they raise concerns about what the future will look like for civil rights enforcement as the Trump administration continues chipping away at federal oversight. 

“That’s hundreds of investigators who no longer work for OCR, and whose expertise that OCR has benefited from over all these years that the nation is now losing,” said Catherine Lhamon, who led the Office for Civil Rights during the Obama and Biden administrations.

Brittany Coleman, a lawyer with the Office for Civil Rights who was based in Dallas and laid off this week, said that with fewer staff, students with disabilities fighting for accommodations for test-taking, for example, will now have to wait longer for help from the department — and it could arrive too late.

“What kind of harm does that mean for their grades, for their mental well-being, and how is that going to impact their educational outcomes, which are now not being tracked anymore,” said Coleman, who also served as a shop steward, referring to layoffs at the department’s Institute of Education Sciences. “What is this is going to mean overall for our students who have disabilities, as far as them growing up and achieving the same educational goals and dreams that we all have?” 

Neither the department nor the White House have responded to requests for comment. In an interview Tuesday on Fox News, McMahon said department will still do what it is required to by law and that funding to schools to support students with special needs will still be provided. Trump defended the layoffs on Wednesday, insisting, without evidence, to reporters that many of the terminated staff were not working or doing a poor job.

“We’re keeping the best people,” Trump said. 

The Office for Civil Rights lost at least 243 union-eligible staff, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, and an unknown number of supervisors. The office historically had around 600 attorneys handling complaints alleging discrimination based on race, gender, disability and sexual orientation, and most already had a caseload of 50 or more. Schools can also call the Office for Civil Rights for technical assistance to prevent violating a student’s rights, but that help could also become less readily available. 

“The provision of education to students with disabilities is complex,” said Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc., which represents families of children with special needs in schools. “They have to have an education with specialized instruction-related services, all the supports they need to learn and grow, and there has to be expert personnel to interpret and carry out the statute’s requirements.” 

More than 300 employees in the Federal Student Aid office were terminated as well, according to the union, slashing more than a quarter of the division in charge of student loans and college tuition grants. 

“It is going to be, I think, a horrific impact for students trying to get information about opportunities to go to college, or trade school or just take classes, and find out whatever Pell grant money is that they’re eligible for,” said one current department employee, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation. 

Conservatives have cheered the Trump administration’s moves toward disbanding the Department of Education, frequently using the refrain that it’s time to send education “back to the states,” which are already in charge of their schools’ curricula.  

“There are 50 other departments of education in the United States of America,” said Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a conservative activist group in an interview last week. “Every state has a Department of Education. There’s absolutely no reason that we need the bureaucracy, the red tape, the cost.” 

But Democratic governors on Wednesday vowed to fight the layoffs — and the broader plans to possibly shut down the entire agency — while also signaling that they’re scrambling to find ways to address funding and oversight shortfalls that could result from the cuts. 

“The states can’t totally backfill everything, certainly on education,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said on a phone call with reporters. He later added that the need to accommodate children with disabilities and other populations expected to be most impacted by a reshaped agency, could eventually prompt tax increases. 

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, said in the same call that his office was already working with the state’s attorney general to fight the layoffs with a lawsuit, and that “at some point in time, we will be going to court again.” 

As part of the layoffs announced Tuesday, all employees working out of the department’s regional offices in San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and Cleveland will be fired. That came as news to top officials in the governors’ offices and education agencies in many of those states. 

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Illinois State Board of Education had still not received “any formal communication” or guidance from leadership at the Department of Education regarding the layoffs, a spokesperson said. Nor had Kentucky’s commissioner of education.

In Montana, however, Susie Hedalen, a Republican and Montana’s superintendent of public instruction, said her office had been receiving dispatches regarding the layoffs from department officials throughout Tuesday and Wednesday.  

The updates, Hedalen said, have aided her department’s goal in “preparing to take a stronger role” in running some of programs that McMahon and Trump have said they want to move to the states.

Abu Ali al-Khair, a resident of Jableh, inspects his damaged house, as Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa grapples with the fallout from reported mass killings of Alawite minority members, in Jableh, Syria on March 12, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

At least 1,383 civilians, the vast majority of them Alawites, were killed in a recent wave of violence that gripped Syria’s Mediterranean coast, a war monitor said Wednesday (March 12, 2025).

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the civilians were killed in “executions by security forces and allied groups” after the violence broke out last week in the coastal heartland of the Alawite minority, to which toppled president Bashar al-Assad belongs.

The Britain-based Observatory added that even as the violence subsided, the toll was still rising as bodies continued to be discovered, many on farmland or in their homes.

“The latest deaths were recorded in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, and the neighbouring central province of Hama,” it said.

It accused the security forces and allied groups of participating in “field executions, forced displacement and burning of homes, with no legal deterrent”.

The violence began on Thursday when clashes broke out after gunmen loyal to Assad staged attacks on the new security forces.

At least 231 security personnel were killed in the ensuing fighting, according to an official toll. The Observatory said 250 pro-Assad fighters were also killed.

In a widely-circulated video verified by the Observatory, an elderly woman is seen alongside the bodies of two men believed to be her sons.

Two fighters appear in the background and a voice behind the camera can be heard shouting that they will “crush” all the Alawites. AFP could not independently verify the video.

The Observatory said the fighters belonged to the security forces and said the woman’s grandson was also killed in the attack on a village in Latakia.

It identified the woman as Zarqa Sebahiya, 86, and later spoke to her daughter, who told the Observatory that she had been guarding the bodies for four days in the hopes of burying them.

The U.N. Human Rights Office said it had documented “summary executions” that appeared “to have been carried out on a sectarian basis”.

Since Assad was ousted in December, many Alawites have lived in fear of reprisals for his brutal rule.

Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who led the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that toppled Assad, has vowed to prosecute those behind the “bloodshed of civilians”, and has set up a fact-finding committee.

The spokesman for the committee, Yasser al-Farhan, has said Syria is determined to “prevent unlawful revenge and guarantee that there is no impunity”.

The authorities have also announced the arrest of at least seven people since Monday on suspicion of “violations” against civilians.

HTS, an offshoot of the former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, is still proscribed as a terrorist organisation by several governments including the United States.