Collets between the Syrian security forces among the new Islamist authorities and armed men who are loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in the western coastal region of Syria have killed more than 70 people and left an area outside the government, according to a war monitor on Friday.
The clashes that broke out on Thursday and seemed to have been coordinated in the coastal region were a great escalation and a challenge for the new government in Damascus, where the former insurgents have now undertaken to unite Syria after 14 years of brutal civil war.
Overnight, Damascu’s reinforcements sent to the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartus as well as to the nearby cities and villages -the core country of the minority of Alawite sect of Assad and his long -term basis of support -the attempt to bring the situation under control, reported state media.
It was the worst violence because the government of Assad was overthrown by insurgent groups under the direction of Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS. Since then there have been some sectarian attacks against alawites of the minorities, although the new authorities say that they do not allow collective punishment or sectarian revenge.
Under Assad, Alawites held top items in the army and in the security authorities. The new government has held its loyalists responsible for attacks against the country’s new security forces in the past few weeks.
A large number of troops were seen on Friday morning in Latakia, where an outcome lock that was imposed in the city and in other coastal areas remained. Members of the security forces said that there were minor clashes in one of the districts, but most of the Latakia was calm and under the control of the government.
Monitors say dozens have died
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor based in Great Britain, said 35 members of the Syrian government fighter, 32 fighters who are Loyal and four civilians were killed.
The chief of the observatory, Rami Abdulrahman, said that the outskirts of the coastal cities of Baniyas and JaBleh were still control of Assad Loyalists, as well as Assad’s hometown Qardaha and many Alawitendörfer nearby.
A resident of Qardaha said the Associated Press in a text message that the situation was “very bad”. The resident who asked that his name should not be made publicly accessible, said the state armed forces to shoot heavy machine guns in the city’s residential areas.
Another resident who also spoke on the condition of anonymity who feared for his security said that due to the intensity of the shootout, she could not leave her home since Thursday afternoon.
Gregory Waters, a deputy scholarship holder with the Middle East Institute, who researched Syrian coastal areas, said that he does not expect the FlareUp to escalate in continuing battles between both sides. However, he said that he was concerned that cycles of violence between different civilian communities could lift along the coast.
In addition, all violations of the security forces that were sent in the armed groups from Damascus would fear young Alawitmänner anxiously in front of the new government – and take more susceptible to weapons, said Waters.
Abdulrahman from the observatory said that the clashes began when the government troops tried to capture a person sought near Jableh and were attacked by Assad Loyalists.
People ask Russia for help
The numerous people gathered on Friday in front of the Russian main air base in Syria near Jableh and asked Moscow for protection. Russia joined Syria’s conflicts in 2015 and set himself up with Assad, although it opened connections to the new authorities after its fall. Assad has lived in Moscow since leaving Syria in December when the offensive of the former insurgents approached Damascus.
When asked about the outbreak of the fight in the coastal region and possible threats to Russian troops, the spokesman for Kremlin Dmitry Peskov replied that “the security of our military is guaranteed at an appropriate level”.
“I would not comment on the operational situation because we don’t know any details,” said Peskov during a conference call with reporters.
The conflict in Syria began in March 2011 and left more than half a million people dead and expelled millions.
Nabil Hawara fled to Canada as a refugee after spending two decades in the notorious prisons of the Syria Assad Regime-first under the direction of Hafez al-Assad and then his son Bashar, who was replaced by rebels on December 8th. Hawara says that the torture illness in his prisons gets the damage.
