DAMASCUS, Syria: Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Sunday called for peace and national unity after hundreds were killed in clashes between the government forces and loyalists of former President Bashar al-Assad in the coastal Latakia province.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, more than 1,000 people had been killed in the two days of fighting.
“We have to preserve national unity and domestic peace, we can live together,” Al-Sharaa, said.
“Rest assured about Syria, this country has the characteristics for survival,” he said in a circulated video, speaking at a mosque in his childhood neighbourhood of Mazzah, in Damascus. “What is currently happening in Syria is within the expected challenges.”
The fighting has been described as the deadliest since the fall of Assad’s government in early December when a coalition led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled his government and pledged to reunify the war-torn country.
Syrian security sources said at least 200 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 new Syrian government has accused remnants of Assad’s forces of instigating attacks on security personnel in recent weeks.
In response to the attacks, Syrian security forces deployed thousands of troops to north-western Syria, launching airstrikes using helicopter gunships, drones, and artillery against Assad loyalists, SOHR reported.
Syrian state news agency SANA quoted an unnamed security official who stated that a significant number of people had travelled to the coast seeking vengeance for recent attacks on security forces.
