Syria’s interim authorities have clashed with Assad regime loyalists in Homs province and the coastal region [Getty]
At least 15 people were killed in the Syrian village of Arzah, which is inhabited by members of the Alawi community, in the northern Hama countryside on Friday, and a Syrian fighter loyal to the country’s new authorities was killed on Saturday north of Homs.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, which has a large network of sources on the ground in Syria, said gunmen “knocked on the doors of houses in the village and shot at people using handguns equipped with silencers” before fleeing.
SOHR chief Rami Abdel Rahman said a child and an elderly woman were among the victims. He said the gunmen “were Sunni Muslims, and the attacks bear all the hallmarks of sectarian killings”.
Syrian newspaper Al-Watan, which is close to the country’s authorities, said that security forces “are surrounding the Arzah area to hunt the criminals” behind the killings, adding that “former officers and soldiers” were among those killed in the attack.
The SOHR has recorded at least 162 killings against Alawis since Assad’s ouster.
Elsewhere in Syria, a member of the new authorities’ Military Operations Command was killed, and two others were injured on Saturday when they were ambushed by pro-Assad gunmen, sources told The New Arab’s sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
The attack took place near the village of Al-Mukhtariyah just north of the city of Homs, near a route leading to the coastal Latakia province, an Assad stronghold.
Reinforcements were sent to the area following the ambush, sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, who said the incident was the first of its kind in this specific region since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad on 8 December last year.
Elsewhere two car bombs on Tuesday targeted a security checkpoint and a police station in the village of Al-Makhram al-Fawqani in Homs’s eastern countryside, but no casualties were reported.
Despite losing control of Syria, Assad loyalists continue to carry out sporadic attacks in Homs province and the coastal region, having ambushed and killed several members from forces belonging to the rebel-turned-leaders.
Syria’s interim authorities have cracked down on remnants of Assad’s forces, but have also set up reconciliation centres for personnel of the former regime’s military and security agencies to hand over their weapons to avoid being detained.
The Syrian government – currently being led by Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa – seeks to disarm all factions in the war-torn country and unify them under a new military leadership.
But despite the government’s constant reassurances towards religious minorities and its attempts to bring about law and order, there have been cases of sectarian attacks and revenge killings over the regime’s decades-long brutality.
Some attacks against members of the Alawi religious sect – which Assad belonged to – have included public executions.
(Agencies contributed to this report)
