Clashes between Syria’s new authorities and gunmen loyal to the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad have killed at the very least 147 folks over the previous two days, a conflict monitor mentioned on Friday, within the bloodiest preventing for the reason that collapse of the outdated regime.
The troubles erupted throughout Latakia and Tartus Provinces, longtime strongholds for Mr. al-Assad alongside Syria’s Mediterranean coast. The realm has grow to be a tinderbox since Mr. al-Assad was overthrown in early December.
The clashes started on Thursday afternoon after Assad loyalists killed 16 safety personnel for the federal government within the Latakia countryside, the deadliest assault but on Syria’s new safety forces, in accordance with the conflict monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and authorities officers. The federal government responded in power, deploying scores of safety personnel within the countryside and directing hundreds extra from different cities to the coast as they tried to reestablish authority over a handful of cities and villages the place armed gunmen had successfully seized management in a single day.
By Friday afternoon, Syrian authorities nonetheless had not wrested again full management over some areas, elevating the specter that the brand new authorities might lose management over the coast. Armed Assad loyalists have been additionally holding a number of safety personnel hostage in Jableh, a coastal metropolis in Latakia province the place they’d successfully seized management, in accordance with Nour al-Din Primo, a spokesman for the federal government in Latakia.
Most residents in Tartus and Latakia have been sheltering of their houses on Friday, as army convoys patrolled the streets and safety forces carried out “combing operations” to root out armed remnants of the Assad period, in accordance with the state information media.
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