At least 14 security forces killed in 'ambush' by former Assad forces, new Syrian authorities say
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At least 14 members of law enforcement have been killed in Syria's Tartous region, the Interior Ministry announced on December 26, 2024. At least 14 members of law enforcement have been killed in Syria's Tartous region, the Interior Ministry announced on December 26. , 2024. SANA
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At least 14 members of the security forces were killed overnight in western Syria in an "ambush" by forces loyal to former leader Bashar al-Assad, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday, highlighting the challenges facing the country's struggling government.
The attack in the Tartous region also wounded 10 officers, the ministry said. It came hours after the new government's military operations command said its forces had killed "a group surrounded by remnants of the old regime" in the same area. The ambush is the first known large-scale attack by Assad loyalists since he was ousted less than three weeks ago, and adds to the challenges Syria's new administration faces, including protests by religious minorities concerned about their rights under an Islamist regime and a new Israeli military occupation of Syrian territory in the south.
The new authorities have set a deadline for former regime forces and gangs to lay down their weapons, less than three weeks after Assad fled the country as rebels advanced on the capital Damascus.
Syria's military operations command said the additional forces were being deployed "to establish security and hold accountable the remnants of the former regime, who are seeking to destabilize security and terrorize people in some areas of the Syrian coast."
"We will not tolerate any criminal gang that aims to harm the safety and security of our people," the director of public security in Latakia, a western coastal governorate, told the country's official SANA news agency on Wednesday.
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Footage shot by Agence France-Presse last week shows security forces from the former Assad regime handing over their weapons to the rebel-linked transitional government in Latakia. Syrian state media has reported that other cities in Syria, such as Deraa, have implemented similar weapons-disarmament programs. The new authorities have also issued interim regime forces with temporary cards to allow them to move freely around Syria while their "court proceedings are completed," according to a notice posted outside a government office, which can be seen in the AFP video. The notice did not provide further details about the legal proceedings.
The Assad regime and Syrian forces serving his government have been responsible for numerous atrocities in suppressing political dissent, including torture and ill-treatment of prisoners. More than 306,000 civilians in Syria have been killed between the outbreak of the civil war in 2011 and March 2021, according to the latest UN estimate.
Videos on local social media accounts on Wednesday showed protests taking place in Latakia province. CNN cannot independently verify the videos.
The protests came at the same time as a video began circulating on social media purporting to show the desecration of a site in Aleppo that part of the Alawite community claims as a holy site.
The new interior ministry issued a statement acknowledging the incident but said it happened weeks ago and that the perpetrators are unknown.
Syria's Alawite community, which lives mainly in coastal areas, has been thrust into key political, social and military positions under the rule of Assad and his father and predecessor Hafez.
The video shows a fire burning in the temple as four bodies lie outside on the ground, surrounded by several armed militants. "We have confirmed that the video circulating is an old video dating from the period of the liberation of the city of Aleppo, made by unknown groups, and that our agencies are working day and night to preserve religious properties and sites," the Ministry of the Interior said. .
"The purpose of republishing these clips is to sow division among the Syrian people at this sensitive time." »
CNN's Pauline Lockwood, Mostafa Salem and Lauren Kent contributed to this report.
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