LATAKIA: Clashes between Syrian security forces and gunmen loyal to former President Bashar Assad in the country’s coastal region have left more than 70 people dead and an area outside government control, a war monitor said Friday.
Government forces sent major reinforcements overnight to the cities of Latakia and Tartus as well as nearby towns and villages that are the heartland of the minority Alawite sect and a base of support for Assad, to try to get the situation under control, state media reported.
The clashes are the worst since Assad was removed from power in early December by insurgent groups led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS. Since Assad’s fall, there have been some sectarian attacks against members of his minority Alawite sect. These incidents have occurred despite the fact that officially the new authorities have said they are against collective punishment or sectarian vengeance.
On Friday morning, large numbers of troops were deployed in Latakia and no civilians were seen in the street as a curfew that was imposed in the city and other coastal areas remains in force. Members of the security force said there were some clashes in one of the city’s neighborhoods but most of the city was calm and under government control.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said that since the clashes began on Thursday afternoon, 35 members of government forces, 32 fighters loyal to Assad and four civilians have been killed.
The Observatory’s chief Rami Abdurrahman said the outskirts of the coastal towns of Baniyas and Jableh are still under the control of Assad loyalists. He added that Assad’s hometown of Qardaha and many Alawite villages nearby are also outside government control.
A Qardaha resident told The Associated Press via text messages that The situation “is very bad.” The resident, who asked that his name not be made public for safety reasons, said government forces are firing with heavy machine guns on residential areas in Qardaha.
Another resident said that they have not been able to leave their homes since Thursday afternoon because of the intensity of the shooting.
Abdurrahman said the clashes began when a security force tried to detain a wanted person near Jableh and was ambushed by Assad loyalists.
Syria’s conflict that began in March 2011 has left more than half a million people dead and millions displaced.
Clashes in Syria’s coastal region between government forces and Assad loyalists kill more than 70
https://arab.news/6hqeu
Clashes in Syria’s coastal region between government forces and Assad loyalists kill more than 70
- Government forces send major reinforcements overnight to the cities of Latakia and Tartus as well as nearby towns and villages
- The clashes are the worst since Bashar Assad was removed from power in early December
Lebanon judge to question shipowner linked to port blast
- The Lebanese judicial official said “Bitar headed to Sofia on Wednesday”
- He is expected to question Grechushkin the following day
BEIRUT: Lebanese judge Tarek Bitar headed to Bulgaria on Wednesday to question a shipowner wanted in connection with a catastrophic 2020 Beirut port blast, a judicial official told AFP.
The long-awaited questioning comes after a court this month refused Lebanon’s request to extradite Igor Grechushkin, a 48-year-old Russian-Cypriot who was arrested in September at Sofia airport.
Authorities in Lebanon say the August 4, 2020 explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been stored haphazardly for years, despite repeated warnings to senior officials.
Beirut authorities have identified Grechushkin as the owner of the Rhosus, the ship that brought the ammonium nitrate into the port.
The blast was one of the world’s largest non-nuclear explosions, destroying swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring more than 6,500.
The Lebanese judicial official told AFP on condition of anonymity that “Bitar headed to Sofia on Wednesday” and is expected to question Grechushkin the following day.
The Lebanese embassy in Sofia is arranging for a translator and a clerk to record the minutes of the questioning, which Bulgarian judicial officials are to attend, the official said.
According to Bulgarian prosecutors, Grechushkin is accused by Lebanese judicial authorities of “introducing explosives into Lebanon — a terrorist act that resulted in the death of a large number of people.”
The Lebanese judicial official told AFP that authorities are relying on Grechushkin’s testimony and the information he has about the ammonium nitrate shipment “and the party that ordered and financed it,” and to determine if Beirut was the ship’s destination.
Bitar resumed his investigation this year as Lebanon’s balance of power shifted following a war between Israel and Hezbollah that weakened the militant group, which had spearheaded a campaign against him.
A travel ban imposed on Bitar as part of a judicial battle related to the case was recently lifted.
President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who both took office this year, have vowed to uphold the independence of the judiciary in a country plagued by official impunity.
Officials named in the port explosion investigation had filed a flurry of lawsuits seeking to hamper its progress.
