Shafaq News/ Armed clashes have intensified in Syria’s coastal region asloyalists of ousted President Bashar al-Assad confront security forces of thetransitional government, forcing thousands to flee and prompting heightenedsecurity measures, sources said on Friday.
A Syrian defense ministry source told state news agency SANA thatgovernment forces repelled an attack by “remnants of the former regime” on thenaval command headquarters in Latakia, restoring stability to the area.
The latest violence erupted on Thursday when security forces attemptedto arrest a wanted individual near the coastal city of Jableh but were ambushedby pro-Assad fighters, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for HumanRights (SOHR).
The clashes quickly escalated as pro-government forces stormed thevillages of Sheer, Mukhtariyeh, and Haffah, killing 69 men but sparing women,SOHR reported. Another 60 people, including women and children, were killed inthe town of Baniyas, it added.
The unrest has displaced thousands, with around 3,000 people fleeingtoward Lebanon’s Akkar province, humanitarian groups said.
Transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa urged former regime fighters tosurrender their weapons while cautioning pro-government forces againsttargeting civilians or mistreating detainees.
“Some remnants of the fallen regime seek to test the new Syria, whichthey do not understand,” Al-Sharaa said in a televised address. “Syria isunited from east to west and north to south. If one province is harmed, allprovinces will rise in its defense.”
Damascus has since deployed reinforcements to Latakia, Tartus, andAlawite-majority villages that were longtime strongholds of Assad’s supportbase. A curfew remains in effect in Latakia and other coastal areas.
Under Al-Assad, Alawites held key positions in the military and securityapparatus. The transitional government has blamed pro-Assad forces for attackson security units but has also condemned retaliatory violence against Alawitecommunities.
As of Friday, SOHR said Jableh and Baniyas remained under the control ofAl-Assad loyalists, along with surrounding Alawite villages and Assad’shometown of Qardaha in the mountains overlooking Latakia.
Dozens of civilians gathered outside Russia’s main airbase near Jablehseeking Moscow’s protection. Russia, which intervened militarily in Syria in2015 to support Assad, has since engaged with the transitional government.
Russia’s foreign ministry reaffirmed its commitment to Syria’s“sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity.”
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