Syrian security forces launch operation to quell Assad loyalist rebellion

Syrian security forces battled Assad regime loyalists on Syria's coast for a second day yesterday, as the country's new government struggled to contain the biggest rebellion to its rule since it took power in December.

- William Christou

Government forces launched a military operation last night in Qardaha, Latakia, the hometown of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, according to Syrian state media. A source in the military of defence told state media that security forces were targeting the buildings and hills around the town where former regime elements were hiding out.

Fighting started on Thursday afternoon when militants loyal to the ousted Assad government ambushed Syrian security forces in a coordinated attack in the countryside of Latakia province, a former stronghold of the deposed leader where many of Syria's minority Alawite Islamic sect live.

Hafez's son Bashar al-Assad was toppled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on 8 December after a lightning offensive by the Islamist rebel group.

The two-day coordinated attack was unprecedented in its scale and is a marked escalation by loyalists to the former government against Syria's new Islamist-led government.

About 70 fighters were killed in the clashes, including 20 government security officers, according to a government-aligned Syria TV, though other war monitors suggested a higher number of dead.