A number of people were reported killed in Syria on Friday, while members of the government security forces clashed with loyal President Bashar al-Asad for a second day, marking the most violent episode for new Syria leaders since the regime’s fall.
Syrian officials said the clashes began on Thursday when gunmen attacked State Security forces and killed a 13 beginner person in the Latakia coastal province in the midst of a “uprising” in what is a former Asad’s form.
More people were killed while fighting continued throughout the night, including an unknown number of civilians, according to officials in Latakia. Damascus has sent severe reinforcements.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (Sohr), a war monitor, said nearly 150 people were killed, including nearly 40 members of the Armed Forces, 34 loyal Assad fighters and seven civilians.
Sohr also said government forces attacked three villages near the coast in response, killing “dozens of men”.
The Lebanese broadcaster pro-Asad al Mayadeen reported attacks on all three villages, saying that more than 30 men were killed only in Mukhtariyeh.
A video showing dozens of male bodies, some bloodied and stacked on the street, which claimed to have been filmed Friday morning, circulated on social media.
The exact number of death remained unclear and FT could not independently verify the sohr or video figures.
Some alawite residents of Banya’s coastal cities and Latakia told FT they were either sheltering at home or fleeing fear of vengeance attacks, sustainable weapons and bombing nearby.
In his first comments since the explosion of clashes, Syria President Ahmed al-Sharaa said government forces would follow “remains” of the deposited regime and lead them to trial, adding that those who attacked civilians would be responsible.
“We will continue to follow the remains of the fallen regime… We will bring them to a righteous court and continue to limit weapons to the state, and no loose weapons will remain in Syria,” Sharaa said in a pre-registered speech.
The scaling is one of the most serious threats so far to the Syrian transitional government, installed in December after Islamic rebels led by Ahmed al-Sharaha overthrew the Assad regime into a lightning attack.
Since then Sharaa has undertaken and dismantling security forces, including the military and police, leaving some of the rebellious allied factions, who fought the regime during nearly 14 years of civil war to maintain order.
It has fought to impose control over the coast, where many members of the same alawite minority to which Assads live. Alavi’s armed armeds have carried out sporadic attacks on State Security Forces, while tens of Alawites have been killed in recent months.
This week’s fighting has threatened to destabilize a fragile peace and plunge the country further into the cycles of sectarian violence.
A group calling itself the military council for the liberation of Syria issued a statement on Thursday, pledging to overthrow the government. He announced the setting of the group and was posted about the time of attacks. It is led by a former commander of the Assad army fourth brutal division, once led by Bashar Maher’s brother,
The group said the “jihadist” regime had failed to defend citizens and that economic and security conditions had worsened in new landing. “We assure our people that we are not seeking power and that our sole purpose is to liberate Syria,” the statement said, after calling on people from all sects and racing.
The Ministry of Defense sent loyal fighters to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Shara group that now runs the state on the coast to oppose the attack. Some posted videos of themselves by vowing for accurate revenge and killing “pigs”, a derogatory term referring to Alawites.
On Friday afternoon, government forces had “achieved rapid progress on the ground and controlled control over areas” that had been attacked, according to a Ministry of Defense spokesman.
Curfews stated in Tartous and Latakia, while security forces mounted comb operations in both cities and mountains nearby.
One resident of Banya said he had seen dozens of troops on the street near his home. “It is a complete massacre. I was very afraid to go to see if I knew any of the dead, “he said, giving his name only as Abu Ahmad for fear of revenge.
A prominent Alawite clergyman, Sheikh Shaaban Mansour, 86, was killed on Friday with his son in the town of Salhab in Hama province, near Latakia. Alawite activists online accused government forces of killing him. Ft could not verify the claims.
Government officials suggested that they were trying to contain vengeance attacks, with large crowds going to the coast to specify their revenge on attacks on state forces.
An unidentified official was quoted by the state -owned Sana news agency to say their actions “had led to some individual violations and we are working to stop them.”
A tense tranquility has kept in Damascus, where security forces were patrolling the roads as a manifestation of force and to keep order in the alawite neighborhoods surrounding the capital.
Hundreds of Syrians demonstrated in support of the government in the capital and other major cities.
