CAIRO: Syrian leader Ahmed Sharaa called for peace on Sunday after hundreds were killed in coastal areas in the worst communal violence since the fall of Bashar al Assad.
“We have to preserve national unity and domestic peace, we can live together,” Sharaa, the interim president, said as clashes continued between forces linked to the new Islamist rulers and fighters from Assad’s Alawite sect.
“Rest assured about Syria, this country has the characteristics for survival,” Sharaa said in a circulated video, speaking at a mosque in his childhood neighborhood of Mazzah in Damascus. “What is currently happening in Syria is within the expected challenges.”
Syrian security sources said at least two hundred of their members were killed in the clashes with former army personnel owing allegiance to Assad after coordinated attacks and ambushes on their forces that were waged on Thursday.
The attacks spiralled into revenge killings when thousands of armed supporters of Syria’s new leaders from across the country descended to the coastal areas to support beleaguered forces of the new administration
The authorities blamed summary executions of dozens of youths and deadly raids on homes in villages and towns inhabited by Syria’s once ruling minority on unruly armed militias who came to help the security forces and have long blamed Assad’s supporters for past crimes.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said on Saturday the two days of fighting in the Mediterranean coastal region amounted to some of the worst violence for years in a 13-year-old civil conflict.
Clashes continued overnight in several towns where armed groups fired on security forces and ambushed cars on highways leading to main towns in the coastal area, a Syrian security source told Reuters on Sunday.
Syria’s Sharaa pleas for communal peace as clashes continue
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Syria’s Sharaa pleas for communal peace as clashes continue
- Syrian security sources said at least two hundred of their members were killed in the clashes with former army personnel owing allegiance to Assad
- Two days of fighting in the Mediterranean coastal region amounted to some of the worst violence for years in a 13-year-old civil conflict.
Safety of Jordanians a priority during regional conflict, says country’s crown prince
- He visits Civil Defense Department and is briefed on the work it is doing to manage emergencies and protect lives and property amid attacks by Iran
LONDON: The safety of citizens is a priority for authorities in Jordan amid regional tensions, the country’s Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah Al-Hashimi said on Wednesday as he visited the Civil Defense Department for a briefing and iftar event.
He stressed the importance of keeping pace with the latest developments in civil protection systems and taking every opportunity to enhance the skills of Civil Defense personnel, the royal court said.
The department, which operates under the Ministry of Interior, has been working to manage emergencies and protect lives and property amid a barrage of missiles and drones launched by Tehran in recent days in response to attacks on Iran by the US and Israel. The strikes have targeted civilian and military areas in Jordan and other countries in the region.
During his visit the crown prince was greeted by Maj. Gen. Obeidallah Maaytah, director of the Public Security Directorate, and Brig. Gen. Nasser Sweilmeen, the Civil Defense director, and briefed on the work of the Civil Defense Department, the systems it uses, and the ways in which it is responding to the regional conflict.
In addition to firing missiles into Israel, Iran has targeted US forces at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan and other American military sites in Gulf countries. Military personnel and civilians in several countries have been killed or injured by missiles or falling debris.
