Clashes broke out on Syria’s coast between protesters from the Alawite religious minority and counter-demonstrators on Sunday, two days after a bombing at an Alawite mosque in the city of Homs killed eight people and wounded 18 others during prayers.
Thousands of protesters gathered in the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous, and elsewhere. Officials have said that preliminary investigations indicate that explosive devices were planted inside the mosque in Homs, but authorities haven’t publicly identified a suspect yet in Friday’s bombing. Funerals for the dead were held on Saturday.
A little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its Telegram channel, in which it indicated that the attack intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates.
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At least three people died and 55 more were wounded in riots in Syria’s western Latakia and Tartus governorates, Syria TV reported.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the television channel, an officer of the new government’s security forces was among those killed.
The Arab mass media reported earlier that protests had erupted in Syria’s Latakia and Tartus governorates after the head of the Alawite Islamic Council, Sheikh Gazal Gazal, announced the start of a nationwide strike. According to Syria TV, armed men were seen among the protesters. They were reportedly shooting in the air and at law enforcement. Several participants in the demonstrations told the Al-Ikhbaria television channel that the protesters demand the country’s new authorities release activists they had arrested earlier.
A wave of demonstrations swept across Syrian western governorates located along the Mediterranean coast on November 25-26. The demonstrators supported Gazal Gazal’s calls for Syria’s decentralization.
More than 100 protesters have been detained in the Syrian city of Latakia amid riots, the Al Hadath television channel reported.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the television channel, Latakia’s Al-Azhari Square has been clocked by the new Syrian government’s security forces. According to earlier reports, three people were killed and more than 60 were wounded in shootouts between law enforcement and armed men who were seen among the demonstrators.
Sunday’s demonstrations were called for by Ghazal Ghazal, an Alawite sheikh living outside of Syria who heads a group called the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora.
ReplyDeleteThe defense ministry has deployed additional forces and armored vehicles to Latakia and Tartus.
ReplyDeleteAn Associated Press photographer in Latakia saw pro-government counterprotesters throw rocks at the Alawite demonstrators, while a group of protesters beat a counterdemonstrator who crossed to their side.
ReplyDeleteSyrian state news agency SANA reported that one member of the security forces was killed by gunfire from “armed remnants of the former regime” in Latakia. It said civilians and security personnel were wounded in gunfire by unknown assailants near Azhari Square.
ReplyDeleteDuring the rein of the Assad dynasty, Alawites were over-represented in government jobs and in the army and security forces.
ReplyDeleteA wave of demonstrations swept across Syrian western governorates on November 25 and 26. The demonstrators demanded the release of arrested activists. Clashes with the police and casualties on both sides were reported in a number of localities.
ReplyDeleteMore than 1,000 Alawites were killed in March after a failed insurrection by al-Assad loyalists sparked revenge killings by government-affiliated forces.
ReplyDeleteLast week, eight people were killed when a bomb detonated at an Alawite mosque in the central city of Homs.