Thursday’s clashes were among the most violent since the ouster of the Assad regime in December [Getty]
Syrian government forces reinforced troubled Latakia and Tartous with more soldiers on Friday morning following hours of fierce clashes between militias linked to the former Bashar Al-Assad regime and security forces on Thursday night, which left scores of people dead and fears that a new civil war might erupt.
The government imposed a 24-hour curfew in the coastal cities on Thursday evening and began a search for militants following the violence, which the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR) said killed more than 70 people and injured dozens.
The army is bolstering its presence in the region and deployed reinforcements from neighbouring provinces – including tanks and armoured vehicles – to Latakia and Tartous, according to The New Arab’s sister site Al Araby Al Jadeed .
The fighting occurred after government forces came under attack by pro-Assad gunmen in multiple locations in the country’s northwest.
Troops travelling to Latakia from northwestern Syria were attacked on the Aleppo-Latakia road, while a separate assault took place on the Tartous-Homs highway, killing 10 members of the security forces.
The SOHR said that 48 people were killed in clashes in Jableh, a coastal city south of Latakia with a large Alawi population, the sect that dominated top positions in the former regime’s security forces.
In Qardaha – the hometown of the Assad family – at least 10 members of the security forces were captured by pro-Assad gunmen, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
In total, at least 35 government troops and 32 pro-Assad gunmen died in the violence, while four civilians were also killed, according to the SOHR.
A local security official in Latakia described the violence as “a well-planned and premeditated attack” coordinated by “several groups of Assad militia remnants”, while government forces are working “to eliminate their presence”, they added.
Syria’s new authorities have received verbal support from countries in the region following the clashes.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned what it described as “crimes” carried out by “outlaw groups” against the country’s security forces.
Turkey, which is among the new Syrian government’s biggest foreign backers, warned that targeting security forces would undermine the country’s stability.
“Such provocations must not be allowed to become a threat to peace in Syria and the region,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.
The violence threatens to raise sectarian tensions in Syria’s coastal region, the heartland of the Alawi minority, where there is still some support for the ousted Assad regime.
There have been reports that civilians in the region have been killed by government forces in recent days during its security operation to arrest Assad loyalists.
The Alawite Islamic Council in Syria on Thursday called for members of the community to protest the reported killings and called on the UN Security Council to intervene.
Syria’s new authorities have embarked on a number large-scale security operations since the December fall of the Assad regime in Homs, Latakia, and Tartous provinces to find and detain officials and militias associated with it.
