Syrian security forces in Latakia Province, March 2025

UPDATE 1112 GMT:

Defense Ministry spokesperson Hassan Abdul Ghany has declared the end of the military operation against Assad regime loyalists.

He asserted that public institutions are able to resume their work and provide essential services: “We are paving the way for life to return to normal and for the consolidation of security and stability.”

We were able to absorb the attacks from the remnants of the former regime and its officers. We shattered their element of surprise and managed to push them away from vital centres, securing most of the main roads.

He threatened further action against forces loyal to Assad:

To the remnants of the defeated regime and its fleeing officers, our message is clear and explicit: If you return, we will return, and you will find before you only men who do not know how to retreat and who do not have mercy on those whose hands are stained with the blood of the innocent.

UPDATE 1022 GMT:

In a speech on Sunday, President Ahmed al-Sharaa spoke of fighting in western Syria as “numerous attempts to destabilize [the country] and drag it into the quagmire of chaos”

Al-Sharaa blamed the “new danger” of “this critical moment” on “remnants of the deposed regime and their external backers to create new strife and drag our country into a civil war”.

He said that reinforcements sent “to protect civil peace and prevent acts of revenge…were attacked”.

Many were killed and burned, and the residents were assaulted. Those who committed this heinous crime are the same ones who committed atrocities against the Syrian people over the past 14 years.

He declared, “We must all remain calm and strong in the face of those who try to incite sectarian strife and internal conflicts”, calling on Assad regime loyalists “to surrender to the law immediately”.

Implicitly referring to abuses by security forces, he assured:

We affirm that we will hold accountable, with firmness and without leniency, all those involved in the bloodshed of civilians or who harmed our people, those who exceeded the state’s authority or exploited power for their own interests. No one will be above the law, and all those whose hands are stained with Syrian blood will face justice sooner rather than later.

UPDATE 0937 GMT:

The UN has expressed concern over “extremely disturbing” reports of entire families being killed in western Syria amid clashes between Assad regime loyalists and security forces.

UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called for investigations into the killings and for perpetrators to be held accountable.

We are receiving extremely disturbing reports of entire families, including women, children and hors de combat [surrendered] fighters, being killed.

The killing of civilians in coastal areas in northwest Syria must cease immediately.

Security forces of the new Syrian government have faced recurrent attacks by pro-Assad groups. The fighting escalated on Thursday when a group ambushed security forces in Jableh in Latakia Province.

Clashes erupted again on Sunday when security forces were attacked by Assad loyalists at a power plant in Banias, Latakia.

ORIGINAL ENTRY, MARCH 9: Civilians have been killed in two days of clashes between Syria’s security forces and pro-Assad groups in the west of the country.

The fighting is the most serious challenge to the authority of the new Syrian government, following the downfall of the Assad regime in December.

Unconfirmed claims say more than 1,000 people — 745 civilians, 125 Syrian security personnel, and 148 Assad loyalists — have been slain. Tolls in other reports vary wildly.

The clashes began on Thursday when pro-Assad fighters ambushed security forces in Jableh in Latakia Province on the Mediterranean coast.

Paramilitary groups and militias who propped up the Assad regime in western Syria have persistently assaulted security personnel of the new government, led by the Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The government said “individual actions” have led to the killing of civilians, with human rights violations because of the entry of fighters into the coastal areas.

President al-Sharaa has spoken of “expected challenges”, calling for national unity. On Friday, he said, “Anyone who harms civilians will face severe punishment”.

The religious and civil leaders of Latakia’s Alawite community called for accountability for crimes on all sides and restriction of weapons to the state. They “appreciated” al-Sharaa’s speech and called for support to the interim government.

A man from Snobar in Latakia said gunmen killed at least 14 of his neighbors, all from the same family, with the execution of a 75-year-old father and his three sons.

“After they killed the father and his boys, they asked the mother to take her gold off, or they would kill her,” he said.

Another resident of Latakia spoke of sheltering in the house, scared of fighters on the streets.

“There’s no water and no power for more than 24 hours, the factions are killing anyone who appears in front of them, the corpses are piled up in the streets. This is collective punishment,” the resident said.