The government security forces reportedly clashed with loyalists from ousted President Bashar al-Assad, the most violent incident in the country’s new leader since the fall of the regime.
Syrian officials said the conflict began on Thursday when gunmen attacked national security forces and killed 13 people in the coastal province of Latakia, a “uprising” at the former stronghold of Assad.
According to officials in Latakia, as the battle continued throughout the evening, more and more people were killed, including unknown civilians. Damascus has sent huge reinforcements.
Syrian human rights observers for war watchdogs said nearly 150 people were killed, including nearly 40 members of the armed forces, 34 loyal Assad fighters and seven civilians.
Sur also said that government forces killed “dozens of men” in response to attacks on three villages near the coast.
Lebanese pro-Assad broadcaster Al Mayadeen reported attacks on three villages, saying more than 30 people were killed in Mukhtariyeh only.
A video shows dozens of male bodies, some bleeding and piled up on the streets, claiming to have been filmed Friday morning and distributed on social media.
The exact death toll remains unclear, and the Financial Times cannot independently verify SOHR data or videos.
Several Alawite residents in the coastal city of Lavender and Latakia told the UK that they were either sheltering at home or fleeing because of fear of revenge attacks and heard steady gunfire and bombing nearby.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa said in his first comment since the conflict that government forces would pursue the “remnants” of the ousted regime and bring it to trial, adding that those who were beaten up civilians would be held responsible.
“We will continue to pursue the remnants of the fallen regime. . We will bring them to a just court and we will continue to limit our weapons to the state and we will not retain those in Syria,” Sharaa said in a pre-recorded speech.
The escalation poses one of the worst threats to Syria’s transitional government, which installed in December on Islamic insurgents to overthrow the Assad regime with a lightning attack by Sharaa.
After that, Sharaa took over and demolished security forces, including the Army and the police, leaving behind a patchwork of Allied rebel factions, which fought the regime in the nearly 14-year civil war to maintain order.
It has been working to control the coast, where many of the Assads belong to members of the same Alavian minority. Armed Alavet gunmen carried out sporadic attacks on national security forces, while dozens of Alave factions have been killed in recent months.
This week’s battle threatens to undermine fragile peace and further get caught in a cycle of sectarian violence.
A group that calls itself the Syrian People’s Liberation Army Commission issued a statement dated Thursday, pledging to reject the government. It announced the team’s setup and released it when the attack occurred. It was led by the former commander of the Brutal Fourth Division of the Assad Army and was once led by Bashar’s brother Maher
The group said the “jihadist” regime failed to protect citizens and the economic and security situation had worsened new lows. “We assure our people that we have not sought power and that our only goal is to liberate Syria,” the statement said.
The Ministry of Defense dispatched combatants loyal to the Sharaa team, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which now operates the state to respond to the attack. Some have posted their own videos, vowing to revenge and kill the “pig”, a derogatory term that refers to the Alaveites.
By Friday afternoon, government forces “had made rapid on-site progress and re-imposed control of these areas,” a spokesman for the Defense Ministry said.
The curfew was announced in the Tough and Latakia, while security forces conducted a combing operation on the city and nearby mountains.
A banyan resident said he saw dozens of bodies on the street near his home. “It was a complete massacre. I was too scared to go and see if I knew any of the dead.
A famous Alavipai pastor, 86, died on Friday in the town of Salhab of Salhab in Hama Province, near Latakia. Alave sent activists online to accuse government forces of killing him. Foot cannot verify the claim.
Government officials advised that they were working to curb revenge attacks, with large crowds heading to the shore to revenge the attack on the state’s army.
The state news agency Sana quoted an unidentified official as saying their actions “caused some personal violations and we are working to stop them.”
There is a tense calm in Damascus, where security forces patrol the streets to show strong power and keep order in the Alavet community surrounding the capital.
Hundreds of Syrians prove the government of the capital and other big cities.
