Fierce fighting in Syria’s coastal town of Jableh between security forces and gunmen loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad killed 48 people on Thursday.
Gunmen loyal to ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad killed 16 security personnel in the coastal province of Latakia, while security forces killed 28 fighters “loyal” to Assad. A war monitor termed the clashes as the “most violent” since Assad’s ouster by Islamist rebels.
Latakia is the heartland of the country’s Alawite minority, who backed the ousted President during his rule.
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Since Assad’s ouster on December 8 by rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Syria’s security forces have launched operations to remove the former president’s loyalists from their strongholds.
Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Kunaifati, Latakia’s security director, had said earlier that the government authorities had launched helicopter strikes in a village after gunmen loyal to an Assad-era commander clashed with security forces. The gunmen allegedly targeted security patrols and checkpoints in the Jableh area and surrounding countryside.
“The armed groups that our security forces were clashing with in the Latakia countryside were affiliated with the war criminal Suhail al-Hassan, who committed the most heinous massacres against the Syrian people,” the security director told state news agency SANA.
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A security source said that militias loyal to Assad had managed to regroup in the mountainous coastal region of Jableh, and security forces have been deployed to thwart such attempts.
Alawite community leaders alleged that the helicopter strikes targeted the homes of peaceful protestors who demonstrated against the strikes.
The war monitor said that residents of Beit Ana, the birthplace of Suhail al-Hassan, disrupted the security forces during an operation to arrest a person wanted for trading arms. This led to tensions, and security forces subsequently launched a campaign in the area, resulting in clashes with the gunmen.
Called “The Tiger”, al-Hassan played a key role in the then-Assad government’s advances against the rebels in 2015. He led Syria’s special forces and was frequently described as Assad’s “favourite soldier”.
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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the majority of the dead belonged to the former rebel-held bastion province of Idlib. 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,” it said.
It also described the clashes as “the most violent attacks against the new authorities since Assad was toppled.”
SANA reported, citing defence ministry sources, that security forces and reinforcements were deployed to the Jableh area “to support the security forces and restore stability to the area”.
(With AFP inputs)
