Clashes between forces aligned with the new Damascus administration and gunmen loyal to Assad erupted in Syria‘s Jableh region, part of the coastal area which forms the heartland of the Alawite minority sect to which the Assad family belongs.
The death toll “following attacks and ambushes by gunmen loyal to Assad in the town of Jableh and its surrounding areas increased to 16 members of the security forces”, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that they were “the most violent attacks against the new authorities since Assad was toppled”.
The coastal region has emerged as one of the main security challenges for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa as his government works to consolidate control.
Syria’s state news agency SANA, citing a defence ministry source, said “remnants of Assad’s militias” had attacked in several areas in a unified way. Reinforcements were on their way to the Jableh area to support security forces, it said.
Earlier this week, two members of the defence ministry were killed in the city of Latakia by groups identified by state media as Assad militia remnants.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
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