INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
attacks on government security forces by loyalists of ousted President Bashar Assad, a war monitor said.The village assaults erupted
Thursday and continued Friday
groups led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
The new government has pledged to unite Syria after 14 years of civil war.More than 200 people have been killed since the fighting broke
out, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
forces and 45 fighters loyal to Assad
The civil war that has been raging in Syria since March 2011 has left more than half a million people dead and millions displaced.The most
recent clashes began when government forces tried to detain a wanted person near the coastal city of Jableh on Thursday and were ambushed by
Assad loyalists, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.On Thursday and Friday, gunmen loyal to the new
government stormed the villages of Sheer, Mukhtariyeh and Haffah near the coast, killing 69 men but harming no women, according to the
attacks on the three villages, saying that more than 30 men were killed in the village of Mukhtariyeh alone.Another 60 people were killed in
news agency SANA quoted an unidentified security official as saying that numerous people went to the coast seeking revenge for recent
attacks on government security forces
video statement called on armed groups affiliated with the former government to hand over their weapons and for those loyal to the new
and make up his longtime base of support
A curfew remained in effect in Latakia and other coastal areas.Under Assad, Alawites held top posts in the army and security agencies
sectarian vengeance.As of Friday, the observatory said, Jableh and the coastal town of Baniyas were still under the control of Assad
Another said people had not been able to leave their homes since Thursday afternoon because of the intensity of the shooting
Both spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.Gregory Waters, an associate fellow with the Middle East Institute who has
However, he said he was concerned it could stoke cycles of violence between different civilian communities living along the coast.Also, any
said.Scores of people gathered Friday outside the main Russian air base in Syria near Jableh to ask Moscow for protection
