More than 250 people reportedly killed in Syria’s west as Alawite loyalists clash with security forces.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has urged the Alawite minority to surrender after intense fighting with the Syrian security forces.
Hasan Abdel-Ghani, spokesperson for the Syrian Defence Ministry, told Al Jazeera on Friday that fighters loyal to former President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday attacked security forces in several places in Latakia and Tartous governorates, home to the Alawite minority sect to which the al-Assad family belongs, killing “a number of security forces” in well-planned operations.
On Friday night, al-Sharaa said in a speech broadcast on Telegram that the Alawite sect had made an “unforgivable mistake”.
“The riposte has come, and you have not been able to withstand it,” he said. “Lay down your weapons and surrender before it’s too late.”
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 250 people have been killed in fighting along the western coast, which members of the Alawite minority heavily populate. Amid the ongoing fighting, civilians and their families have entered the Russian Khmeimim base in the countryside of Latakia to seek refuge.
Al Jazeera’s Omar Al Hajj, reporting from the city of Tartous, said on Friday that authorities lost control in several neighbourhoods after the “rebellions”, but “reinforcements … from different provinces and districts” had carried out a “huge security operation” in Tartous, Latakia and Banias.
Syrian authorities said the al-Assad-aligned forces targeted security patrols and checkpoints in the Jableh area and surrounding countryside before spreading on Thursday.
Moussa al-Omar, a figure close to Syria’s new leadership, told the Reuters news agency that tens of thousands of fighters in the newly constituted security forces were deployed to the coast, and order had mainly been restored as of Friday night.
Reporting from the capital Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar said fighting is continuing in some areas of the country, but a “tragedy” was growing due to the civilian death toll from both sides.
“The remnants of the old regime have killed more than 100 members of the security forces, including 15 civilians,” he said. “That’s why al-Sharaa called on the security forces to show maximum restraint and asked them to protect civilians no matter what, at all costs. This is becoming a huge concern now.”
The attack on Syrian forces by those loyal to the former removed president shakes al-Sharaa’s efforts to consolidate control amid ongoing US sanctions and security challenges, including the presence of Israeli troops in the southwest.
But the Alawite have said their communities in rural Homs and Latakia have been subjected to violence and attacks after al-Assad was overthrown.
While al-Sharaa has pledged to run the country inclusively, there have been no meetings between him and senior Alawite figures, contrary to other minority groups.
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