DAMASCUS: Syria’s new authorities on Thursday 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 Assad’s Alawi sect, has marked the deadliest challenge yet to the authorities which swept him from power on Dec 8.

Members of the Alawi minority wielded huge sway in Assad-led Syria, dominating security forces he used against his opponents during the 13-year-long civil war, and to crush dissent during decades of bloody oppression by his police state.

The security forces launched the Tartous operation to “control security, stability, and civil peace, and to pursue the remnants of Assad’s militias in the woods and hills”, state news agency SANA reported.

The crackdown was announced as the Damascus authorities warned of an attempt to incite sectarian strife, after a video dating from late November circulated on social media showing a fire inside an Alawi shrine in Aleppo. The interior ministry said unknown groups perpetrated the violence and that its forces were working “night and day” to protect religious sites.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former Al Qaeda affiliate which led the rebel campaign that toppled Assad, has repeatedly vowed to protect minority groups, who fear the new rulers could seek to impose an Islamist government.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2024