The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a watchdog which relies on activists and medics on the ground for its information said that some reports indicate that more than 50 people were killed, including women and children while other reports put the toll to more than 100.

“There are reports of summary executions being committed by regime forces and pro-regime gunmen in Banias area, ” SOHR said.

“There are tens of villagers who have gone missing. Several houses were burnt and destroyed,” it added.

State media said regime forces “killed terrorists in Baida and the village of Mirqab, as well as in the district of Ras al-Nabah,” in Banias.

The SOHR said the violence in al Baida was “the first of its kind in the Banias area”, since the uprising began and that the army had cut off all communications with al-Baida.

“We strongly urge the Red Cross and legal organisations to head to al-Bayda village to document and verify the level of death and destruction caused,” SOHR said.

“Violence in the Banias area is extremely worrying since its demographics easily lead to sectarian communal violence,” it added.

Banias, along with Daraa in the south, saw some of the first demonstrations against the regime in March 2011.

The region’s three main coastal cities of Banias, Latakia and Tartus and their surrounding areas which are referred to as “Alawite heartland” where analysts predict that Assad could seek protection if his regime falls.

The report of violence in al-Baida came as Chuck Hagel, US defence secretary, said arming the Syrian rebels was now a possibility.

The German magazine Der Spiegel reported the ship had loaded its cargo in Djibouti last week and changed course for Iskenderun in Turkey on Friday when the cargo was at risk of being uncovered. The ship stopped about 80km southwest of the Syrian port of Tartus, its initial destination, it said.

The search of its cargo was delayed until Thursday morning due to stormy weather, according to state run Anatolia news agency .

White Whale Shipping, the Ukrainian company that chartered the Atlantic Cruiser has denied  allegations that there were arms on board and said its cargo was civilian goods. Smuggling arms to Syria would be a violation of EU arms embargo.

The UN imposed a weapons embargo against Syria almost a year ago. During a U.N. Security Council briefing last month, the U.S and Britain accused Iran of  smuggling weapons to Syria which they said were being used against the civilians.

Iran and Syria have denied allegations of arms trade and last month, Damascus told the United Nations armed “terrorist groups” in Syria were receiving weapons from neighboring countries.

The route between Djibouti and Tartus is known as a path for transporting weapons, according to intelligence experts.

In January another ship out of Russia was stopped with munitions in Cyprus, but later continued its journey with the cargo to Syria after the captain declared he would head to a different port than initially planned.