The fighting along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea for two days was one of the bloodiest since rebels overthrew tyrant Bashar al-Assad.
At least 147 people have been killed in the last two days in fighting between Syria's new government and gunmen loyal to the ousted tyrant Bashar al-Assad, according to a war monitor on Friday. This is the deadliest fighting since the fall of the old regime.
The trouble started in Latakia and Tartus Provinces, which have been bases of Mr. al-Assad for a long time along the Mediterranean coast of Syria. Since three or four rebel groups overthrew Mr. al-Assad in early December, the area has become very dangerous.
The fighting started Thursday afternoon after 16 government security guards were killed in the countryside around Latakia by Assad supporters. This was the deadliest attack on Syria's new security forces so far, according to government officials and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has been keeping an eye on the civil war in Syria.
As a response, the government sent tens of thousands of security guards to the countryside and thousands more from other cities to the coast to try to regain control of a few towns and villages that had been taken over overnight by armed bandits.
As of Friday afternoon, the Syrian government still hadn't taken back full control of some places. This allowed the new government to lose control of the coast.
Nour al-Din Primo, a spokesman for the government in Latakia, said that armed supporters of Assad were also taking several security staff hostage in Jableh, a coastal city in Latakia Province. They had essentially taken control of the area.
Ahmed al-Shara, Syria's acting president, said that people who supported the old government were to blame for the violence of the last two days. He said that these people were trying to "test" and break up the new Syria. He told them to put down their guns and give up.
"I commend the army and security forces for their dedication to safeguarding civilians while they went after the remnants of the old regime," he said in a speech that was shown on Syrian TV.
At different times during the day, reports came out that some of his security troops had killed people. He told them not to "allow anyone to exceed their limits or overreact." (Those stories could not be checked by The New York Times.) Mr. al-Shara also said that anyone who hurts the rights of innocent people will be held responsible.
"Our fierce loyalty to our beliefs sets us apart from our enemy," he said.
At first, it wasn't clear how many of those killed were troops from one side or the other. For years, the Syrian Network for Human Rights has been keeping track of the country's civil war. They said that over two days of fighting in Tartus and Latakia, a lot of civilians were killed. But those deaths could not be confirmed by a third party.
Over 20 people are seen dead on film in the Alawite village of Al-Mukhtaria, which is about 12 miles east of Latakia, the capital of the province. The video was confirmed by both Reuters and The Times. As people weep over the dead, you can see blood all around them.
At a time when the country is still very divided after a nearly 14-year civil war and more than 50 years of Assad family dictatorships, the fighting on the coast has become a flashpoint.
The rising tensions have become a tough test for the new leaders. They took power after Mr. al-Assad was removed by an alliance of rebels and an Islamist transitional government was put in place to strengthen control.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani wrote on X on Friday, "From the very first day, we have been and continue to face both a covert and open war aimed at breaking the will of the Syrian people."
"On the one hand, chaos has been sown, and on the other, political isolation abroad has been tried," he said. "I want our people to know that Syria has passed the test again and is now making strong, determined steps toward the future."
The state news sources say that most people in Tartus and Latakia stayed inside on Friday while military convoys patrolled the streets and security forces carried out "combing operations" to get rid of armed remnants of the Assad era.
The fights and security actions made people all along the coast more afraid. People in a number of villages and towns said that government security troops had attacked civilians as they went through.
A 31-year-old Basnada resident named Yamen said that on Friday afternoon, dozens of security guards poured into the town to do a security sweep. He asked to only be recognized by his first name out of fear of retaliation.
As he stood by the window of his fifth-floor flat, he said, a member of the security forces raised his rifle and shot at the apartment building. Over the next few hours, he saw police beating up some of his neighbors.
Eighteen-year-old Jad lives in Baniyas, a suburb on the outskirts of Latakia, the provincial capital. He told us that he and his family were hiding in their home with security troops on Friday afternoon. He, too, asked that only his first name be used because he was afraid of being hurt.
He told them that the police broke into his house and ordered that his family give up all of their money and weapons. They also took their car.
It was not possible to get a response right away from the new government in Damascus about the witness reports.
There were protests all over the country in response to the chaos along the coast. On Thursday night and Friday, thousands of people took to the streets of major cities, either to support the government or to demand that they stand down and leave the coastal countryside.
People were protesting against the new government for the first time since they took office.
The coastal provinces have been very hard for the government, which is run by Sunni Muslims. The Assad family and other members of Syria's Alawite community live in this area.
The Alawites had a lot of power over the country while the Assad family was in charge, even though they only made up 10% of the people. Under Assad's rule, the ruling class and the top military positions were mostly held by Alawites, who follow a branch of Shiite Islam.
All of Mr. Assad's security troops have been told by the new government to cut ties with the old government and hand over their weapons at "reconciliation centers." A lot of people have joined, but some security troops from the old government have not.
In the past few weeks, armed men with ties to the Assad government have attacked security troops in Latakia and Tartus and then left without being caught. But the surprise on Thursday afternoon looked like it was the most well-planned attack so far. It happened at a time when some people who support Assad were calling for a fight against the new government.
A 35-year-old citizen of Draykish, a town in the mountains of Tartus, said that by early Thursday evening, the streets were almost empty because of news of fighting along the coast.
Then, around 8:30 p.m., Mr. Subh said, the town was filled with the sound of heavy gunshots. After a few hours, some mosques played a message on their speakers asking government troops to drop their guns and leave town.
Police and some armed men were stationed in the district center, where Mr. Subh and other neighbors said they saw government security forces.
People who lived in Draykish said that by Friday morning, the government troops had left their posts and gunmen had set up checkpoints along the town's main roads.
Mr. Subh said, "No one knows how things got so bad so fast." "Who planned it all?" Who came at them? “No one is sure for sure.”
A government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to the news media said that the overnight fighting happened just hours after security forces arrested a government official in the countryside of Latakia.
Gunmen hid behind the security forces' convoy as they left the village of Beit Aana, according to people who lived in the village and the official. The war monitor says that at least 16 security guards were killed.
The ambush in Beit Aana led to more fighting in rural Latakia between government troops and armed supporters of Assad.
During the afternoon, artillery and machine gun fire could be heard all over the area. Residents said that hundreds of people from Beit Aana and nearby towns ran away to the countryside. As of right away, it wasn't clear if anyone had been killed—citizens or Assad supporters.
On Thursday night, protesters in the port city of Tartus yelled, "One, one, one—Tartus and Jableh are one." They were referring to the area of Jableh where the fighting had happened, according to people who live there.
A lot of people protested for the government in other parts of the country, like the city of Homs in the center and Idlib in the northwest. There were a lot of protesters at Umayyad Square in Damascus on Friday afternoon. Some of them wanted the armed remnants of the Assad government to be put down.
People in Latakia and Tartus were scared because the fighting was getting worse. A lot of people in the area are skeptical of Syria's new leaders, but they don't back the armed resistance from the Assad government's remnants.
On Friday, police cars drove around the streets.
Ahmad Qandil, an Alawite leader in Jableh, said, "There's a total curfew in the area." He also said that most people in town wanted things to calm down.
He said, "We want safety and security more than anything else, even money for things like food." "What's going on is very unclear."
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