At least 16 members of Syria’s security forces were killed on Thursday in an ambush carried out by militants linked to Bashar al-Assad’s ousted regime, a Syrian broadcaster reported, some of the worst violence the new government has faced since toppling him in December.
Syria TV, which is aligned with the new Damascus administration, said the clashes were continuing in the Jableh region, part of the coastal area which forms the heartland of the Alawite minority sect to which the al-Assad family belongs.
The coastal region has emerged as one of the main security challenges for President Ahmed al-Sharaa as his government works to consolidate control.
Syria’s state news agency SANA, citing a defense ministry source, said “remnants of al-Assad’s militias” had attacked in several areas in a unified way. Reinforcements were on their way to the Jableh area to support security forces, it said.
Earlier this week, two members of the defense ministry were killed in the city of Latakia by groups identified by state media as al-Assad militia remnants.
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