At least 14 security forces killed in 'ambush' by former Assad forces

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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