The Syrian authorities launched a security sweep in the city of Latakia on March 4, after two members of the security forces were killed in an attack blamed by state media on remnants of Bashar Al-Assad’s now ousted government.
As per the Middle East Monitor, bursts of gunfire were heard through the night as government security forces were deployed in the Datour district of Latakia, part of the coastal region where Assad had drawn support from the Alawite community to which his family belongs. The coastal region has emerged as one of the main security challenges for interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s new administration, which has deployed many of its forces in the area since Assad was deposed in December.
A senior security official in the area reportedly told Reuters that there had been an increase in hit-and-run attacks on security patrols and checkpoints in several towns in Latakia province over the past two weeks, blamed on former army personnel in hiding.
The Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a security source, reported that the two members of the defence ministry had been killed in Datour by “groups of Assad militia remnants”, and that security forces had mounted a campaign to arrest them.
One Datour resident told Reuters that there had been heavy gunfire in the early hours and that security forces in numerous vehicles had surrounded the neighbourhood, before the situation calmed down in the morning.