DAMASCUS – Syria’s new authorities on Dec 26 launched a security crackdown in a coastal region where 14 policemen were killed a day before, vowing to pursue “remnants” of the ousted Bashar al-Assad 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 Mr Assad’s Alawite sect, has marked the deadliest challenge yet to the Sunni Islamist-led authorities that swept him from power on Dec 8.
The new administration’s security forces launched the operation to “control security, stability and civil peace, and to pursue the remnants of Mr Assad’s militias in the woods and hills” in Tartous’ rural areas, state news agency Sana reported.
Members of the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, wielded huge sway in Assad-led Syria, dominating security forces he used against his opponents during the 13-year civil war, and to crush dissent during decades of bloody oppression by his police state.
Reflecting tensions with a sectarian edge, protesters chanted “Oh Ali!” during a rally outside local government headquarters in Tartous, images posted on social media on Dec 25 showed. Reuters verified the location of the images.
The chant was a reference to Ali ibn Abi Talib, a cousin of the Prophet Mohammed who is revered by Muslims but held in especially high regard by Alawites and Shi’ites, who believe Ali and his descendants should have led the Islamic community.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the former Al-Qaeda affiliate that led the rebel campaign that toppled Mr Assad, has repeatedly vowed to protect minority religious groups, who fear the new rulers could seek to impose a conservative form of Islamist government.
Sana reported that Mohammed Othman, the newly appointed governor of the coastal Latakia region that adjoins the Tartous area, met Alawite sheikhs to “encourage community cohesion and civil peace on the Syrian coast”.
Homs protest
The Syrian information ministry 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 as Mr Assad drew on Shi’ite militias from across the Middle East, mobilised by his ally Iran, to battle the insurgency dominated by members of the Sunni Muslim majority, many of them Islamist.
Dissent has also surfaced in the city of Homs, 150km north of Damascus. State media reported that the police imposed an overnight curfew on the night of Dec 25, following unrest linked to demonstrations that residents said were led by members of the Alawite and Shi’ite religious communities.
Footage posted on social media on Dec 25 from Homs showed a crowd of people scattering, and some of them running, as gunfire was heard. Reuters verified the location. It was not clear who was opening fire.
Mr Assad’s long-time Shi’ite regional ally, Iran, has criticised the course of events in Syria in recent days.
On Dec 22, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called on Syrian youth to “stand with firm determination against those who have orchestrated and brought about this insecurity”.
Ayatollah Khamenei forecast “that a strong and honourable group will also emerge in Syria because today Syrian youth have nothing to lose”, calling the country unsafe.
Syria’s newly appointed foreign minister, Mr Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, said in a social media post on Dec 24 that Iran must respect the will of the Syrian people and Syria’s sovereignty and security.
“We warn them against spreading chaos in Syria and we hold them accountable for the repercussions of the latest remarks,” he said.
Lebanon said on Dec 26 it was looking forward to having the best neighbourly relations with Syria, in its first official message to the new administration in Damascus.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah played a major role propping up Mr Assad during the civil war, before bringing its fighters back to Lebanon over the last year to fight in a bruising war against Israel – a redeployment that weakened Syrian government lines. REUTERS
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