DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syria’s new authorities on Thursday launched security measures in a coastal region where 14 police officers were killed a day earlier, vowing to hunt down “remnants” of Bashar al-Assad’s ousted government accused of the attack, state media reported.
The violence in Tartous province, part of the coastal region that is home to many members of Assad’s Alawite sect, has marked the deadliest challenge yet to the Sunni Islamist-led authorities who ousted him from power on December 8. .
The new administration’s security forces launched the operation to “control security, stability and civil peace, and pursue the remnants of Assad’s militias in the forests and hills” of rural areas of Tartous, the agency reported. state news SANA.
Members of the Alawite minority, a branch of Shiite Islam, wielded great influence in Assad-led Syria, dominating the security forces he used against his opponents during the 13-year civil war and to crush dissent during decades of war. bloody oppression. for its police state.
Reflecting tensions with a sectarian tone, protesters chanted “Oh Ali!” during a demonstration in front of the local government headquarters in Tartous, as shown in images posted on social media on Wednesday. Reuters verified the location of the images.
The chant was a reference to Ali ibn Abi Talib, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad who is revered by Muslims but highly regarded by Alawites and Shiites, who believe Ali and his descendants should have led the Islamic community.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the former al Qaeda affiliate who led the rebel campaign that toppled Assad, has repeatedly vowed to protect minority religious groups, which fear the new rulers may try to impose a conservative form of Islamist government.
SANA reported that Mohammed Othman, the newly appointed governor of the coastal region of Latakia, bordering the Tartous area, met with Alawite sheikhs to “foster community cohesion and civil peace on the Syrian coast.”
HOMS PROTEST
The Syrian Ministry of Information declared a ban on what it described as “the circulation or publication of any media content or news with a sectarian tone aimed at spreading division” among Syrians.
The Syrian civil war took on sectarian dimensions when Assad turned to Shiite militias from across the Middle East, mobilized by his ally Iran, to combat an insurgency dominated by members of the Sunni Muslim majority, many of them Islamists.
Dissent has also emerged in the city of Homs, 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Damascus. State media reported that police imposed a curfew overnight Wednesday following unrest related to demonstrations that residents said were led by members of the Alawite and Shiite religious communities.
Images posted on social media on Wednesday from Homs showed crowds of people dispersing, some running, as gunshots could be heard. Reuters verified the location. It was unclear who opened fire.
Iran, Assad’s former Shiite regional ally, has criticized the course of events in Syria in recent days.
On Sunday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Syrian youth to “oppose with firm determination those who have orchestrated and caused this insecurity.”
Khamenei predicted “that a strong and honorable group will also emerge in Syria because today the Syrian youth has nothing to lose,” calling the country insecure.
Syria’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani said in a social media post on Tuesday that Iran must respect the will of the Syrian people and the sovereignty and security of Syria.
“We warn them against the spread of chaos in Syria and hold them responsible for the repercussions of the latest statements,” he said.
Lebanon said on Thursday it looked forward to the best neighborly relations with Syria, in its first official message to the new administration in Damascus.
Lebanese Hezbollah, backed by Iran, played a major role in supporting Assad during the civil war, before bringing its fighters back to Lebanon over the past year to fight a bruising war with Israel, a redeployment that weakened the Syrian government lines.