An ambush on Saturday killed at least four fighters from a faction in the rebel alliance that overthrew Syria’s president, a war monitor said.
It happened in a bastion of support for ousted President Bashar al-Assad‘s stronghold, on the Mediterranean coast.
The Islamist-led rebel coalition now in charge in Damascus said it was sending “considerable reinforcements” to the areas of Latakia, Tartus, and Jableh, the main coastal cities in the area. The area is a center of toppled Assad’s Alawite minority.
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that “at least four fighters” of Faylaq al-Sham — a Sunni Islamist pro-Turkey Syrian group — had been killed in clashes with “loyalist elements of the former regime.”
The loyalists ambushed the members of Faylaq al-Sham, said the Observatory, which has a network of sources in Syria.
The shooting occurred near a villa belonging to Wassim al-Assad, a “relative of Bashar al-Assad and a trafficker of captagon,” it added.
An amphetamine-like stimulant, the banned drug captagon became by far Syria’s largest export, turning the country under Assad into the world’s biggest narco state.
“These individuals also engaged in looting of sites, barracks and institutions abandoned after the fall of the regime,” the Observatory said.
A source in Faylaq al-Sham confirmed to AFP that the group had come under fire while carrying out a security patrol, killing four of its members.
“Forces present in Latakia are being strengthened to deal with the situation,” the rebel coalition said on Telegram, noting it was “strictly forbidden to carry weapons in Latakia.”
Residents had on Saturday asked the new authorities “to intervene against troublemakers,” and rebel officials had announced a number for Tartus and Latakia residents to call “in case of emergency.”
They also appealed for anyone holding looted goods to return them within seven days or face legal action.
This came after an appeal on Tuesday to military and civilians in the coastal region “not to confiscate equipment, weapons or public vehicles,” under threat of punishment.
