Syria government says coast operation against pro-Assad militias completed

BEIRUT — Syria’s Defense Ministry announced Monday the completion of a military operation against remnants of the former Assad regime on the Syrian coast, where fighting between pro-Assad militias and security forces killed more than 1,000 people, including 745 civilians in less than a week, the deadliest since President Bashar al-Assad’s fall last December.

Ministry spokesperson Hassan Abdul Ghani said in a statement on the X platform that the Syrian forces managed to “neutralize the security cells and remnants of the defunct regime” and succeeded in “thwarting the threats and securing the area.”

“Our forces were able to neutralize the security cells and remnants of the defunct regime from the town of al-Mukhtariyya, the town of al-Muzayri’a, the al-Zobar area and others in Latakia governorate, and the town of al-Daliyah, the town of Tanita and al-Qadmus in Tartous governorate, which resulted in thwarting the threats and securing the area,” ministry spokesperson Hassan Abdul Ghani said in a post on the X platform. 

He noted that public institutions were now able to resume their work and provide essential services, saying a plan was put in place to continue fighting remnants of the former regime and any future threats.

The latest unrest, the most violent since Assad’s fall Dec. 8, erupted last Thursday when pro-Assad militias attacked security patrols in the coastal city of Jableh and surrounding areas. Forces linked to the new rulers in Syria were subsequently deployed to quell the insurgency, sparking revenge killings against the Alawites.

The clashes were centered in Latakia and Tartous, home to much of Syria’s Alawite community, which had been a key base of support for Assad throughout the Syrian civil conflict.

The fighting also spread to other parts of Syria, including in the capital Damascus. On Monday, unidentified armed men attacked a General Security building in the Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus and threw grenades at the site. A firefight subsequently erupted, while security forces pursued the attackers and arrested a number of them, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

According to Al Jazeera, a member of the security forces was injured in the attack.

Revenge killings under investigation

The United Kingdom-based SOHR, which has a vast network of sources on the ground in Syria, said Sunday that 1,018 people, including 125 members of the Syrian security forces and 148 elements loyal to Assad, have been killed in the violence.  

The casualties also include 745 civilians, whom the SOHR said “were liquidated and killed in cold blood in sectarian massacres.” SOHR did not specify, but the head of the group, Rami Abdul Rahman, told the BBC that they were all Alawites. 

“This is an ethnic cleansing operation,” he warned, calling for the prosecution of those responsible.

Reports and videos of violations and attacks against civilians in so-called acts of revenge against the Alawite population have widely circulated.

The United Nations expressed its concerns over the reports of violence against civilians in Syria.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement Sunday that they are receiving “extremely disturbing reports of entire families, including women, children and hors de combat fighters, being killed,” as well as reports of “summary executions on a sectarian basis by unidentified perpetrators, by members of the caretaker authorities’ security forces, as well as by elements associated with the former government.”

He called for “prompt, transparent and impartial investigations” into these reports. “Those responsible must be held to account,” he continued.

Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced Sunday the formation of a fact-finding committee to investigate reports of violations and vowed to bring those responsible to justice.

“We will hold accountable, with firmness and without leniency, all those involved in the bloodshed of civilians or who harmed our people,” he said in a speech broadcast on national television on Sunday.

The Syrian interim leader accused remnants of the former regime and foreign supporters of attempts “to create new strife and drag our country into a civil war, aiming to divide and destroy its unity and stability,” urging them to surrender “immediately.”

Sharaa issued a decision to form a committee that would be tasked with “preserving civil peace” and with directly communicating with the people on the Syrian coast in order to provide the necessary support to ensure their security and stability, the presidency announced later on Sunday.