the country’s new authorities were killed on Thursday in clashes in western Homs province, as was the leader of a notorious militia loyal to the former regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
sectarian unrest in Syria appeared to be dying down however.
Syrian state news agency SANA said that “outlaw groups affiliated with [former President Bashar] Al-Assad’s militias” had attacked Syrian fighters from the new authorities’ military administration in the village of Balqasa, killing two and injuring 10.
Al-Arabiya.
It said that the militias possessed anti-personnel rockets, tanks, and artillery.
The New Arab’s affiliate Syria TV that the casualty toll was not final and that the new Syrian authorities’ military operations administration had begun an operation to comb western Homs province for “remnants” of the previous Assad regime.
The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that the clashes started when militias loyal to the previous regime had refused to give up their heavy weapons and take part in the new authorities’ reconciliation process.
On Wednesday Al-Ali appeared in a video threatening to burn mosques and carry out military attacks, after a video surfaced of rebel fighters burning a Alawi shrine in Aleppo. It later emerged that the video was around three weeks old, with the new Syrian authorities vowing to punish those responsible.
Curfews following protests
Protests and outbreaks of violence happened in several areas however, including Homs and Tartous, which is a stronghold of the Alawi community. At least 14 police were killed in Tartous in a clash with regime loyalists on Wednesday.
Syrian authorities imposed curfews in Homs and Jableh, which both saw protests, in an effort to contain the unrest, while Alawi notables issued a statement calling for the handing over of arms to the new authorities within five days.
They also called for refraining from any behaviour “that would inflame sectarian tensions either through slogans or media statements”.
The Arab League also said it was "following with concern the events taking place in several Syrian cities and areas with the aim of igniting the sparks of conflict."
It accused Iran, a key ally of the former Assad regime, of trying to incite violence in Syria, saying it "rejects the Iranian statements aimed at fuelling strife among the Syrian people."
Last Sunday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei predicted "the emergence of a strong, honourable group" in Syria following the ouster of Assad, saying the country's young men had "nothing to lose", leading to a rebuke from Syria’s new foreign minister.
Regime figures arrested
Fighters from the administration also detained several figures associated with the Assad regime across the country.
These included Mohamed Kanjo Hassan, a military official who issued arbitrary death sentences to prisoners at the notorious Sednaya prison, where hundreds of thousands of detainees were tortured, killed, and straved by the Assad regime.
In a statement on Friday, the military operations administration said that it had arrested “major personalities associated with the former regime, and those who had incited disorder in Tartous on the Syrian coast”.
of Bashar al-Assad’s wife Asma, who controlled key sectors of the Syrian economy.
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