Syria’s ruling rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham imposed a nighttime curfew after 14 members of the “security forces” were killed in what the country’s new masters described as a tense “ambush” by supporters of the old regime.
Syria’s new interior minister, Mohammed Abdel Rahman, says 14 of the “security forces” were killed and 10 others injured during clashes with pro-Assad militants near the coastal town of Tartous, a stronghold of the Alawite minority from which the deposed president comes.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), a London-based NGO, reports a death toll of 17 – 14 “members of the Ministry of the Interior” and 3 armed men facing them.
Clashes took place in many other cities, including Homs and even the capital, Damascus. These are the most violent unrest since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime two weeks ago.
Mr Rahman vowed to crack down on “anyone who dares to harm“to the security of the country, endangering the lives of its citizens or interrupting the”peace and stabilization process“.
Protests took place in the city of Homs on Wednesday, state media reported, and were led by members of the minority Alawite and Shiite Muslim communities.
The Alawite protests were apparently sparked in part by an online video showing the burning of an Alawite shrine. Interim authorities insisted the video was old and not a recent incident.
Some demonstrators demanded the release of soldiers from the former Syrian army imprisoned by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which came to power. The UK-based Syrian Observatory says at least one protester was killed and five injured in Homs as HTS forces sought to quell the unrest.
The HTS also imposed a curfew from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. local time (8 p.m. – 10 a.m. CET) in response to the protests.
Since Assad’s ouster, violence has erupted in bursts, but without reaching the level feared after nearly 14 years of devastating civil war.