Fourteen security personnel from Syria’s new authorities and three armed men were killed in clashes in Tartous province when forces attempted to arrest an officer linked to the notorious Sednaya prison, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Observatory said the clash broke out in Tartous, a stronghold of ousted president, Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority.
Syria’s new interior minister confirmed the fatalities in a message on Telegram, and said that 10 police officers were also wounded by what he called “remnants” of the Assad government. The minister vowed to punish anyone who dared “to undermine Syria’s security or endanger the lives of its citizens”.
The deadly incident comes as demonstrations and an overnight curfew elsewhere marked the most widespread unrest since Bashar al-Assad’s removal more than two weeks ago. One demonstrator was killed and five others wounded in Homs “after security forces … opened fire to disperse” the crowd, Agence France-Presse reported.
The protests took place in several cities around the same time that an undated video was circulated on social media that showed a fire inside an Alawite shrine in the city of Aleppo.
