Violence has erupted in Syria’s coastal region, a longtime bastion of support for Bashar al-Assad, the ousted president.
At least 70 people have been killed in clashes between government security forces and gunmen loyal to the Assad regime. Thousands of protesters have flooded the streets in the first wide-scale demonstrations against the new government. Residents have been ordered to stay indoors as security forces scramble to contain the turmoil.
This unrest is one of the most serious challenges yet to Syria’s new rulers, who swept to power in December after a lightning advance led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Where are the clashes?
The violence is centered on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, the heartland of the country’s Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that makes up about 10 percent of the population. The Assad family, which governed Syria with an iron fist for five decades, are Alawites, and the sect dominated the ruling class and upper ranks of the military.
Since Syria’s new Islamist rulers swept to power, many Alawites have grown unnerved.
Syrians are demanding accountability for crimes committed under the Assad government, and the country’s interim president, Ahmed al-Shara, has pledged to hunt down and prosecute senior regime figures. Mr. al-Shara has promised stability and to safeguard the rights of ordinary Syrians from all sects. But the Alawite-dominated region has experienced low-level violence in recent months, often as a result of security forces trying to arrest former officers.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, has reported attacks on Alawite civilians, frequently by unknown gunmen. The country’s new rulers have pledged to bring all armed groups under the state’s control, but the security situation remains unstable, with some Syrians seeking vengeance.
Who are the Assad loyalists taking up arms?
There does not yet appear to be a single unifying force responsible for orchestrating the attacks on Syria’s western coast, and so far the violence is largely attributed to small-scale cells of Assad loyalists, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based research group.
The attacks against security forces on Thursday, however, marked the “first time that pro-Assad loyalist activity demonstrated clear coordination and prior planning,” according to Charles Lister, the director of the Syria and counterterrorism programs at the Middle East Institute.
On Thursday, as security forces came under attack, a group calling itself the “Military Council for the Liberation of Syria” issued a statement vowing to overthrow the country’s new leadership. The statement announced the establishment of the group, and was signed by a former general in the Assad regime’s elite Fourth Division, which was headed by Mr. al-Assad’s brother Maher al-Assad.
It remains unclear if the former general, Gaith Dalah, established this military council himself, or if the group is claiming him as their leader, according to the Institute for the Study of War. But its formation comes on the back of similar announcements by a trickle of other pro-Assad armed groups that have sprung up since the government’s fall.
In recent days, some of those groups have released videos showing gunmen calling for the overthrow of Syria’s new leadership, and have claimed responsibility for attacks against security forces on their social media channels. The New York Times has not independently verified the videos.
Anas Khattab, the new head of Syria’s intelligence services, said in a statement on Friday that former Assad regime military leaders were behind the violence, with support from unspecified “fugitives” outside the country.
How have Syria’s new government and its allies responded?
The government has poured security forces into the coastal region in a bid to restore order, with SANA, Syria’s state-run news agency, posting photographs of long lines of armored vehicles deploying in coastal cities. Curfews have been extended in the cities of Latakia and Tartus where the violence has centered, with residents ordered to stay home as security forces conduct “combing operations” aimed at armed remnants of the Assad government, according to SANA.
“The choice is clear: Lay down your weapons or face your inevitable fate,” Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani, a spokesman for the Syrian Ministry of Defense, said in a statement, adding that thousands of militants had surrendered their arms, but that some continued to fight.
The state-run news agency, once a mouthpiece of the Assad government but now an instrument of Syria’s new government, has also posted images of counter-protests in parts of the country — an apparent effort to demonstrate unified support for their rule.
The new government’s international backers have condemned the attacks on government forces, and warned of the impact of further unrest.
“At this critical juncture, the tension in and around Latakia, as well as the targeting of security forces, could undermine the efforts to lead Syria into the future in unity and solidarity,” Oncu Keceli, a spokesman for Turkey’s Foreign Ministry, said in a statement.
“Such provocations must not be allowed to become a threat to peace in Syria and the region,” Mr. Keceli added.
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