International Desk: More than 70 people were killed and dozens more wounded in Syria in fighting between government security forces and militants loyal to deposed ruler Bashar al-Assad, a war monitor said Friday.
“For more than 70 killed and dozens wounded and captured in bloody clashes and ambushes on the Syrian coast between members of the Ministry of Defense and Interior and militants from the defunct regime’s army,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a post on X.
It said earlier that fighting Thursday between government forces and al-Assad loyalists had killed 48 people in the coastal town of Jableh and adjacent villages, saying they were “the most violent attacks against the new authorities since al-Assad was toppled” in December, reports al-Arabiya.
The overall toll during this week’s unrest was not immediately clear.
Pro-al-Assad fighters killed 16 security personnel while 28 fighters aligned with the ousted president and four civilians were also killed, the Observatory said Thursday.
The earlier fighting was in the Mediterranean coastal province of Latakia, the heartland of al-Assad’s Alawite minority who were considered bastions of support during his rule.
Mustafa Kneifati, a security official in Latakia, said that in “a well-planned and premeditated attack, several groups of al-Assad militia remnants attacked our positions and checkpoints,” targeting patrols in the Jableh area.
The attacks resulted in “numerous martyrs and injured among our forces,” he added without providing the number of casualties.
“We will restore stability to the region and protect the property of our people,” he declared._Agencies.
