Syrian forces and pro-Assad fighters clash killing dozens

Dozens of people have reportedly been killed in the bloodiest fighting since opposition fighters overthrew the regime last year as security forces in Syria have fought against gunmen loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad in the country's coastline region for a second day.

According to Syrian Defence Ministry spokesperson Hasan Abdel-Ghani, al-Assad supporters killed "a number of security forces" in well-planned attacks on Thursday when they attacked security forces in multiple locations in the Latakia and Tartous governorates, which are home to the Alawite minority sect, to which the al-Assad family belongs.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a war monitor, reported on Friday that over 130 people had been killed in two days of combat, although authorities have not released a death toll. According to the report, security personnel, gunmen, and civilians were among those killed, Al Jazeera reported.

The number of fatalities could not be reliably verified by Al Jazeera. Authorities said that gangs of Assad-aligned militias targeted security patrols and checkpoints in the Jableh region and adjacent countryside on Thursday, before spreading more widely, causing the bloodshed to escalate.

The SOHR reports that dozens of men were killed when government-loyal gunmen assaulted the villages of Sheer, Mukhtariyeh, and Haffah along Syria's coast on Friday. Al Mayadeen TV, headquartered in Beirut, said that over 30 males were killed in Mukhtariyeh after being separated from women and children.

Following attacks on government security officers, massive, unorganised masses moved to the coastline region, prompting "individual violations," according to a security source cited by Syrian state news agency SANA.

“We are working to stop these violations,” the source said, without giving details, Al Jazeera reported.

After the "rebellions," authorities lost control of numerous neighbourhoods, according to Omar Al Hajj of Al Jazeera, who was reporting from Tartous. However, "reinforcements … from different provinces and districts" conducted a "huge security operation" in Tartous, Latakia, and Banias.

On Friday afternoon, Latakia's police commander told Al Jazeera that the city was under control and that the siege on security and military facilities had been lifted. Conflicts went on elsewhere in the meantime. SANA reports that curfews were imposed on Friday in the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous.

The violence has rocked interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's efforts to solidify control, as his administration battles to lift US sanctions and faces broader security concerns, particularly in the southwest, where Israel has declared it will block Damascus from deploying forces.