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130 killed in Syrian violence; Security forces clash with Assad loyalists
At least 130 people were killed and dozens wounded in overnight clashes between the new authorities in Syria and gunmen loyal to the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad, a war monitor said, in the bloodiest skirmishes since the collapse of the Assad government.
The fighting unfolded in Latakia and Tartous provinces, longtime strongholds for Assad along Syria’s Mediterranean coast. It came hours after the killing of 16 security personnel by Assad loyalists in the Latakia countryside on Thursday afternoon, the deadliest attack yet on Syria’s new security forces.
Thousands of protesters flooded streets in the cities of Latakia and Tartous to demand that government forces stand down and withdraw from the countryside, the first wide-scale demonstrations against the new authorities since they assumed power in December.
The government deployed more security forces to the coast late on Thursday night to restore order. On Friday morning, government convoys were patrolling the roads of both cities, and residents were told to stay home as security forces conducted “combing operations” aimed at armed remnants of the Assad regime, according to state media.
“Thousands have chosen to surrender their weapons and return to their families, while some insist on fleeing” justice and continuing to fight, a spokesman for the Syrian ministry of defence, Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani, told the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency. “The choice is clear: Lay down your weapons or face your fate,” he added.
The flaring tensions have become a critical test for Syria’s new leaders, whose rebel coalition toppled the Assad regime and installed an Islamist transitional government.
The coastal provinces have posed a significant challenge for the Sunni-led government as it exerts its authority. The region is the heartland of Syria’s Alawite minority, including the Assad family.
Despite making up only 10 per cent of the country’s population, the Alawites exerted outsized influence over the country during the Assad family’s more than 50 year rule. The Alawites, who practice an offshoot of Shia Islam, dominated the ruling class and upper ranks of the military under the Assad government.
New York Times