A Syria war monitor said Wednesday that four civilians had been killed in a security operation in a former pro-government bastion this week, while clashes in the south had left at least seven security personnel and gunmen dead.
Restoring and maintaining security across Syria remains one of the most pressing challenges for the country's new authorities after Islamist-led rebels overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad on December 8.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the security operation in the Daatur district of the coastal city of Latakia had killed four civilians -- two construction workers on Wednesday and two "guards at a local school" the day before.
Latakia province is a former Assad government stronghold and the heartland of his family's Alawite minority.
State media had said that forces launched the campaign there after "militia remnants" supporting Assad killed two security personnel in an ambush.
Mustafa Kneifati, a security official in Latakia province, said that "during the operation, the criminal cell threw bombs at the security patrols, wounding a number of personnel".
"Our forces responded immediately to the sources of fire and managed to arrest a number of people involved in these criminal acts, and neutralised a number of others," Kneifati added in a statement on the interior ministry's Telegram channel.
The Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria, said "a cautious calm" had returned to Daatur "after the arrest of a number of residents and wanted persons".
Daraa clashes
In Sanamayn, in the southern province of Daraa, the Observatory said security forces carried out a "large-scale campaign... searching for wanted men and weapons".
"Three internal security forces personnel and a local fighter" were killed and several civilians "including women and children" were wounded Wednesday in clashes between authorities and fighters linked to the ousted government's military intelligence, it added.
The operation came a day after similar clashes killed three fighters and wounded "three civilians including a child", the Observatory said.
Daraa province's Telegram channel reported ongoing "military operations to purge the area of armed elements".
A local security official, Abdul-Razzaq al-Khatib, was quoted as saying that "military reinforcements" reached the city Wednesday morning, with clashes ongoing in buildings in the southwest.
He said Tuesday's clashes resulted in an unspecified number of casualties, while gunfire also wounded a member of the security forces at a checkpoint.
Daraa province, the cradle of the 2011 uprising against Assad that led to Syria's civil war, returned to government control in 2018 but has been plagued by unrest in recent years.
Syria has seen clashes and shootings in a number of areas, often blamed on Assad supporters, with the new authorities announcing campaigns targeting "regime remnants" and making arrests.
Latakia initially saw heightened security tensions and violence, including reprisals against people seen as linked to the former government, though such incidents have decreased somewhat despite occasional attacks on checkpoints, according to the Observatory.
With AFP
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