The Syrian interim administration declared on Monday that it had concluded a significant military campaign against forces loyal to the deposed President Bashar Assad. This campaign marked the most intense hostility since the civil war ended in December, following 13 long years of conflict.
The Defense Ministry revealed that escalating violence erupted after an unexpected ambush by armed individuals from the Alawite community. This attack occurred during a routine police patrol in the vicinity of Lattakia, a coastal city, last Thursday. The skirmish swiftly expanded into widespread confrontations across Syria’s coastal zones, reportedly resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians, according to monitoring organizations.
Syria’s interim leadership, primarily consisting of Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is confronted with the challenge of establishing control throughout the nation. They are seeking political solutions with various minority groups, particularly the Kurds in the northeast and the Druze in the south.
Colonel Hassan Abdel-Ghani, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry, issued a stark warning to those loyal to the former regime. “To the remaining remnants of the defeated regime and its fleeing officers, our message is clear and explicit. 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 declared.
Abdel-Ghani further mentioned that the authorities would persist in dismantling sleeper cells and remnants of the insurgency linked to Assad loyalists. Despite the successful containment of the insurgency, inflammatory footage has emerged depicting potential retaliation against the broader Alawite minority, who predominantly reside in Syria’s western coastal areas.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based organization monitoring the situation, reported that the clashes resulted in 1,130 fatalities, including 830 civilians. These numbers remain unverified by independent sources.
Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the interim president, acknowledged the reported retaliatory actions against Alawite civilians and the mistreatment of prisoners, labeling them as isolated incidents. He vowed to address these concerns and assembled a committee to investigate these events.
Colonel Abdel-Ghani assured that the security forces will cooperate fully with the committee, allowing them the opportunity to uncover the truth and address any injustices. The concerning visuals of burned homes and deceased individuals on the streets have alarmed Western nations.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Syrian officials to ensure accountability for those responsible for the violence, emphasizing American support for Syria’s diverse religious and ethnic groups, including Christians, Druze, Alawites, and Kurds.
The conflict prompted thousands from the coastal regions to seek refuge in neighboring Lebanon, many using unofficial border crossings. The UN refugee agency reported that, according to local authorities, a dozen villages in northern Lebanon’s Akkar province received 6,078 individuals escaping the strife, with arrivals in other regions of the country still pending verification.
Lebanon currently hosts over 755,000 registered Syrian refugees, alongside numerous unregistered individuals. Since Assad’s downfall, there has been a notable trend of refugees returning to Syria, with the UN noting that nearly 260,000 have done so since November last year, many returning from Lebanon.
