Shafaq News/ Armed clashes have intensified in Syria’s coastal region as
loyalists of ousted President Bashar al-Assad confront security forces of the
transitional government, forcing thousands to flee and prompting heightened
security measures, sources said on Friday.
A Syrian defense ministry source told state news agency SANA that
government forces repelled an attack by “remnants of the former regime” on the
naval command headquarters in Latakia, restoring stability to the area.
The latest violence erupted on Thursday when security forces attempted
to arrest a wanted individual near the coastal city of Jableh but were ambushed
by pro-Assad fighters, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights (SOHR).
The clashes quickly escalated as pro-government forces stormed the
villages of Sheer, Mukhtariyeh, and Haffah, killing 69 men but sparing women,
SOHR reported. Another 60 people, including women and children, were killed in
the town of Baniyas, it added.
The unrest has displaced thousands, with around 3,000 people fleeing
toward Lebanon’s Akkar province, humanitarian groups said.
Transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa urged former regime fighters to
surrender their weapons while cautioning pro-government forces against
targeting civilians or mistreating detainees.
“Some remnants of the fallen regime seek to test the new Syria, which
they do not understand,” Al-Sharaa said in a televised address. “Syria is
united from east to west and north to south. If one province is harmed, all
provinces will rise in its defense.”
Damascus has since deployed reinforcements to Latakia, Tartus, and
Alawite-majority villages that were longtime strongholds of Al-Assad’s support
base. A curfew remains in effect in Latakia and other coastal areas.
Under Al-Assad, Alawites held key positions in the military and security
apparatus. The transitional government has blamed pro-Assad forces for attacks
on security units but has also condemned retaliatory violence against Alawite
communities.
As of Friday, SOHR said Jableh and Baniyas remained under the control of
Al-Assad loyalists, along with surrounding Alawite villages and Al-Assad’s
hometown of Qardaha in the mountains overlooking Latakia.
Dozens of civilians gathered outside Russia’s main airbase near Jableh
seeking Moscow’s protection. Russia, which intervened militarily in Syria in
2015 to support Al-Assad, has since engaged with the transitional government.
Russia’s foreign ministry reaffirmed its commitment to Syria’s
“sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity.”