A total of 48 people were killed in fighting between security forces and pro-Assad fighters on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.
Supporters of ousted President ambushed and killed 16 police personnel. The response from Syrian security forces led to clashes that left 28 pro-Assad fighters and four civilians dead, according to the London-based SOHR.
The monitoring body called it “the most violent attacks against the new authorities since Assad was toppled.”
What do we know about the clashes in Syria’s Latakia?
The incident took place around the town of Jableh, in the coastal province of Latakia — the heartland of Syria’s Alawite minority, of which Assad is a member.
Mustafa Kneifati, a security official in Latakia, said that in “a well-planned and premeditated attack, several groups of Assad militia remnants attacked our positions and checkpoints, targeting many of our patrols in the Jableh area.”
SOHR reported that security forces employed helicopter gunships to fire on the ambushers which reportedly included fighters loyal to former Syrian army General Suheil al-Hassan. It was not immediately clear if al-Hassan had been involved in the fighting.
State-run news agency SANA said that security forces had arrested former senior intelligence official Ibrahim Hweiji, believed to be responsible for organizing the assassination of Lebanese Druze leader Kamal Joumblatt in 1977.
Sectarian violence reported in Alawite strongholds
Following the attacks, large numbers of military reinforcements were deployed to the area and overnight curfews were imposed on Alawite-populated areas including nearby Tartus and Syria’s third city Homs, SANA reported.
Sajed al-Deek, a security official, was quoted by local media as saying the situation is under control. He played down reports that the attacks had been carried out by Alawites, and called “for abstaining from raising sectarian sentiments.”
Tensions in the Alawite stronghold regions have been rising as Sunni militants carry out attacks on the formerly dominant group.
The Syrian government, led by the rebels who overthrew Assad in a lightning advance in December, has warned against collective punishment or sectarian violence.
But residents and observers have accused security forces of seizing homes, carrying out executions, and kidnapping as they seek to root out Assad loyalists from the area.
Nevertheless, the government has called these violations “isolated incidents” and said it would go after those who are responsible.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
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