Worse violence in Syria since Assad fell like dozens killed in clashes

The security forces of the new leaders of Syria are engaged in heavy battles with fighters loyal to the fallen president Bashar al-Assad in a coastal area of ​​the country.

This is the worst violence in Syria since the rebels overthrew Assad in December and installed an Islamist transitional government.

A war surveillance group, the Syrian Observatory based for British human rights, said that more than 70 people had been killed.

A curfew was imposed in the cities of Latakia and Ivière, where the fights broke out.

BBC VERIFY confirmed the location of two videos published online which showed that armed men pulled several times in a building, triggering a fire inside, in the city of Homs on Thursday evening.

Two other verified videos show a body dragged behind a car in Latakia.

The coastal region is the heart of the Alawite minority and a bastion of the Assad family, which belongs to the Alawite sect.

Estimates in the number of people killed in violence vary, and the BBC has not been able to check them independently.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday that 71 people had been killed, including 35 members of government forces, 32 armed men affiliated to the army of the Old Regime and four civilians.

The clashes have left dozens of other injured, said the human rights group.

Armed men, some of the old regime, had set an ambush to the military forces, the control points and the seat along the coast, said the organization.

A Sunni civilian witness called the “planned and prepared” attack, while another said to the Arabic BBC that the blind dismissal on everyone, including paramedical paramedics, was like something of the previous Assad regime.

“They had no mercy, so we are against violence against anyone in the Syrian coast which was not involved in this disorder. All are civilians and they are all like our family,” they explained.

An Alawite said that many Syrians were “afraid”, whether on the coast or in the capital.

Addressing the BBC, she added that “everyone is terrified by the current incentive” and fears that they become “scapegoats”.

Local armed men have prevented themselves from military zones, where they were buried in areas of the Latakia mountains to launch attacks, while others were buried in the city of Jableh.

Members of the former army of the regime were deployed in several coastal towns and villages, while the military forces were caught in the motorways.

Late Thursday, the Step news agency based in Syrian reported that the forces aligned by the government had killed “around 70” of regime veterans, while more than 25 other people were captured in Jableh and the surrounding area.

Syrian defense ministry spokesperson, Colonel Hassan Abdul Ghani, warned the Loyalists of Assad Fighting in Latakie via the state media.

“Thousands of people have chosen to give up their weapons and return to their families, while some people insist on fleeing and dying to defend murderers and criminals. The choice is clear: exempt your weapons or face your inevitable destiny,” he said.

The region has become a major security challenge for acting president Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Alawite activists have said that their community had been subject to violence and attacks since the fall of Assad, especially in rural homs and latakies.

He also faces resistance in the south, where there have been clashes with the forces of Druze in recent days.

Earlier this week, The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Syria has told the global weapons guard dog that the new government was determined to destroy any stock of stocks remaining under-associated.

The government of Assad denied having used chemical weapons during the 14 -year civil war, but activists accused him of having carried out dozens of chemical attacks.