Syria’s new authorities have 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 that the violence in Tartous province, part of the coastal region that is home to many members of Assad’s Alawite sect, has marked the deadliest challenge yet to the Sunni Islamist-led authorities which swept him from power on December 8.
It was also gathered that members of the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, 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.
State News Agency, SANA, reported that 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.
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 Alawite shrine in Aleppo.
According to the interior ministry, unknown groups perpetrated the violence, adding that its forces were working night and day to protect religious sites.
The former al Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS, 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.
This has increased fears in many members of minority groups, including Christians.
In a predominantly Alawite neighbourhood of Damascus, Alawite sheikh Ali Dareer said that homes had been vandalised and people beaten on the basis of their religious identity, despite HTS promises the sect would be treated with respect.
Dareer, who blamed a third party trying to incite discord, stressed that the community had extended its hand to the new government but there have been many violations, citing multiple accounts of people being beaten at a checkpoint.
An HTS fighter in the area said there had been an incident on Thursday in which Alawites were taken off a bus and beaten because of their religion, but denied that HTS was responsible.
“This is a matter of sedition, and we don’t want to be dragged into it. Thousands of people are filled with resentment, anxiety, and their dignity is offended. However, we must remain committed to peace,” he said.