DAMASCUS – Islamist militants in Syria have claimed responsibility for kidnapping at least 94 women and children belonging to President Bashar al-Assad’s minority Alawite sect, according to a video published on Thursday, March 13.

The civilians were abducted in August from villages in rural Latakia, the president’s coastal stronghold. The rebels said they were holding the hostages to secure the release of opposition supporters from government detention.

Thousands of people are thought to be imprisoned by both sides in the increasingly sectarian civil war, which enters its fourth year this month.

The video, obtained by Qatari-owned television station Al Jazeera, said the rebels were ready to swap the civilians for 2,000 prisoners who have been detained for more than a year.

It stipulated that most of the freed prisoners be from coastal areas of the country and that half of them be women and children, Al Jazeera said.

In one scene, three women wearing headscarves and simple clothing address the camera. Another scene shows dozens of women and children standing outdoors in a walled-in area.

Al Jazeera did not identify the rebels, saying only they were groups from the armed Syrian opposition.

A rare prisoner swap was achieved last week, securing the release of 13 Greek Orthodox nuns detained since December by fighters from the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s official affiliate in Syria. The government freed at least 25 prisoners in exchange.

Qatar, which owns Al Jazeera, said it had played a mediating role in securing the nuns’ release, but Syria denied the allegation.

 The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday that more than 146,000 people, more than a third of them civilians, have been killed in Syria’s uprising-turned-civil war which enters its fourth year this month.

The last U.N. figures, released in July 2013, put the death toll at least 100,000 but the United Nations said in January it would stop updating the toll as conditions on the ground made it impossible to make accurate estimates.

The Observatory said it counted nearly 36,000 rebel fatalities, including foreign jihadi fighters.

It said more than 56,000 of those killed were from pro-Assad forces, including 332 from the Lebanese group Hizbullah and 459  fighters from other countries.

But the group said the true toll on both sides was probably much higher – by perhaps more than 60,000. Both sides try to hide their casualties, it said, making fighter death tolls very difficult to gauge.

Syria’s parliament unanimously approved a new election law Thursday allowing multiple candidates to run for president, opening the door — at least in theory — to other potential contenders besides Assad.

The vote comes nearly four months before Assad’s seven-year term as president officially expires. Syrian officials say the presidential elections will be held on time and Assad has suggested he would run again, though he hasn’t confirmed whether he’ll seek re-election.

The poll must be held between 60 and 90 days before Assad’s term ends on July 17.