{"id":254015,"date":"2025-03-07T14:22:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T14:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/07\/what-we-know-about-the-clashes-in-syria\/"},"modified":"2025-03-07T14:22:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T14:22:15","slug":"what-we-know-about-the-clashes-in-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/07\/what-we-know-about-the-clashes-in-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Know About the Clashes in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/07\/multimedia\/07syria-wwk-gcwz\/07syria-wwk-gcwz-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"What We Know About the Clashes in Syria\" title=\"What We Know About the Clashes in Syria\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, has reported attacks on Alawite civilians, frequently by unknown gunmen. The country\u2019s new rulers have pledged to bring all armed groups under the state\u2019s control, but the security situation remains unstable, with <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/15\/world\/middleeast\/syria-justice-revenge-assad-crimes.html\" title=\"\">some Syrians seeking vengeance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-139c6f60\">Who are the Assad loyalists taking up arms?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There does not yet appear to be a single unifying force responsible for orchestrating the attacks on Syria\u2019s western coast, and so far the violence is largely attributed to small-scale cells of Assad loyalists, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.understandingwar.org\/backgrounder\/iran-update-march-6-2025\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">according to the Institute for the Study of War<\/a>, a Washington-based research group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/06\/world\/middleeast\/syria-clashes-assad.html\" title=\"\">The attacks against security forces<\/a> on Thursday, however, marked the \u201cfirst time that pro-Assad loyalist activity demonstrated clear coordination and prior planning,\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.syriaweekly.com\/p\/a-turning-point-pro-assad-loyalists\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">according<\/a> to Charles Lister, the director of the Syria and counterterrorism programs at the Middle East Institute.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Thursday, as security forces came under attack, a group calling itself the \u201cMilitary Council for the Liberation of Syria\u201d issued a statement vowing to overthrow the country\u2019s new leadership. The statement announced the establishment of the group, and was signed by a former general in the Assad regime\u2019s elite Fourth Division, which was headed by Mr. al-Assad\u2019s brother Maher al-Assad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It remains unclear if the former general, Gaith Dalah, established this military council himself, or if the group is claiming him as their leader, according to the Institute for the Study of War. But its formation comes on the back of similar announcements by a trickle of other pro-Assad armed groups that have sprung up since the government\u2019s fall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In recent days, some of those groups have released videos showing gunmen calling for the overthrow of Syria\u2019s new leadership, and have claimed responsibility for attacks against security forces on their social media channels. The New York Times has not independently verified the videos.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Anas Khattab, the new head of Syria\u2019s intelligence services, said in a statement on Friday that former Assad regime military leaders were behind the violence, with support from unspecified \u201cfugitives\u201d outside the country.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-264b003b\">How have Syria\u2019s new government and its allies responded?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The government has poured security forces into the coastal region in a bid to restore order, with SANA, Syria\u2019s state-run news agency, posting photographs of long lines of armored vehicles deploying in coastal cities. Curfews have been extended in the cities of Latakia and Tartus where the violence has centered, with residents ordered to stay home as security forces conduct \u201ccombing operations\u201d aimed at armed remnants of the Assad government, according to SANA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe choice is clear: Lay down your weapons or face your inevitable fate,\u201d Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani, a spokesman for the Syrian Ministry of Defense, said in a statement, adding that thousands of militants had surrendered their arms, but that some continued to fight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/07\/world\/europe\/syria-coast-clashes-assad.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, has reported attacks on Alawite civilians, frequently by unknown gunmen. The country\u2019s new rulers have pledged to bring all armed groups under the state\u2019s control, but the security situation remains unstable, with some Syrians seeking vengeance. Who are the Assad loyalists taking up arms? There [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/07\/multimedia\/07syria-wwk-gcwz\/07syria-wwk-gcwz-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[163200,163199,196473,54582,164238,27428,171720,137131,19366,196472],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254015"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254015"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254017,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254015\/revisions\/254017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}