Syria’s new caretaker government announced the end of a days-long military operation against fighters loyal to overthrown president Bashar al-Assad on Monday, marking the worst fighting since the years-long civil war ended in December.
The announcement comes despite the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting that gunmen associated with the Ministry of Defence are conducting violent clashes in the Baniyas coastal countryside.
The initial surge of violence followed a surprise attack by gunmen from the Alawite community on a police patrol near the port city of Latakia, kicking off widespread fighting across Syria’s coastal region on Thursday between government-associated groups and al-Assad loyalists, in which, according to monitoring groups, hundreds of civilians were killed.
Syria’s new government in Damascus has found it challenging to exert authority across the country and reach political agreements with other communities, such as the northeastern Kurds and the southern Druze.
“To the remnants of the defeated regime and its fleeing officers, our message is clear and explicit,” Defence Ministry spokesperson Colonel Hassan Abdel-Ghani said.
“If you return, we will also return, and you will find before you men who do not know how to retreat and who will not have mercy on those whose hands are stained with the blood of the innocent,” he added.
Abdel-Ghani said that security forces will continue searching for sleeper cells and remaining former government loyalists who might be involved in the insurgency.
Though the government’s military operation launched to push back against al-Assad’s loyalists was mainly able to contain it, images emerged showing apparent retaliatory attacks from Syrian security forces against the Alawite minority mainly living in western Syria.
According to UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, 1,130 people were killed in the clashes, including 830 civilians. However, these numbers have not been independently verified.
Interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa called the attacks on Alawite civilians and prisoner mistreatment isolated incidents, vowing to hold those responsible accountable. He also announced a committee to investigate the events.
The new government, led by Al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS), overthrew al-Assad in December, ending over half a century of his family’s dictatorial rule.
The European Commission said it was concerned by the news out of Syria and condemned the killings.
“We are all alarmed by the situation and developments in Syria, which began with attacks that led to the reported killings of innocent civilians. These reports are horrendous,” a Commission spokesperson said.
“We have seen that the interim authorities reacted quickly, and we demand that the perpetrators be brought to justice.”
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Syrian authorities to “hold the perpetrators of these massacres” accountable in a statement on Sunday.
“(The US) stands with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities,” Rubio added.
