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An armed rebellion broke out on the Syrian coast on March 6 with a large paramilitary force mainly made up of former Syrian Arab Army (SAA) fighters from the Alawite minority attacking Syrian government forces in both Latakia and Tartus.
The Alawites, an offshoot of Islam Shiite, are Syria’s largest minority group. The family of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad belongs to the sect.
The confrontation began when the security forces of the new government were conducting an operation in the southern countryside of Latakia. The security personnel were trying to arrest an official from the Assad regime by force. Upon leaving the town, Beit Aana, the government forces were ambushed by local fighters and several were killed.
The ambush sparked additional clashes between government forces and fighters affiliated with the Assad regime in Beit Ana and surrounding areas.
Government forces used artillery and even used helicopters to shell the town, causing most of the civilians to flee into nearby farms.
The attack on Beit Ana prompted protests across the Syrian coast, with thousands pouring into the streets of the cities of Latakia, Jableh and Tartus, calling for government forces to withdraw from the coast and for the downfall of Ahmad al-Sharaa, who headed the country after the fall of the Assad regime. Security forces met the protestors with live fire.
Soon after, the situation developed even further when a force dubbed the Military Council for the Liberation of Syria announced the beginning of a full-on rebellion to overthrow the current government, which was appointed by the Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
The commander of the force was revealed to be Gaith Dala, a former senior commander of the SAA’s elite 4th Division. Dala went missing after the final battle that saw the collapse of the Assad regime last December. His reappearance encouraged many former soldiers and officers as well as armed local Alawites to launch attacks against government forces from Latakia to Jableh and Tartus.
By the evening, the rebels managed to block many roads in the coast, and imposed controls of key areas, including the Naval Academy, the vicinity of the Russian Khmeimim Air Base and the 107 Regiment base close to Jableh. In addition, the area of al-Qardaha was said to be under their complete control.
Nevertheless, the situation shifted overnight as government forces began to use armed quadcopter drones and send massive reinforcements to the coast from central Syria. In addition, authorities announced a curfew on the coast. Protests by people who support the new government also erupted in major cities, including Homs and Idlib.
By the morning, Tartus and Latakia came back under the control of government forces, while clashes continued well into the evening in Jableh and al-Qardaha.
News of major violations and war crimes by government forces, including massacres in Tartus and Latakia, began to surface on social networks later in the day.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) confirmed that massacres took place in Latakia city and the towns of al-Haffa, al-Mukhtariyah and al-Shir, with at least 68 people killed. The London-based monitoring group also said that 78 others were killed since the beginning of the rebellion on the coast, including 37 personnel of government forces, 34 rebels and seven civilians.
Footage posted to social networks indicate that the vast majority of the victims were unarmed civilians, including teenagers and elderly men. The number is clearly way larger than what was reported by the SOHR.
More incidents were reported by activists in other areas. In the city of Banias in Tartus entire families were reportedly killed and in the town of Arzeh in Hama pro-government protesters killed multiple locals. All the victims belonged to the Alawite sect.
As the humanitarian situation on the Syrian coast was completely ignored by the mainstream media and the West, local Alaiwtes held a protest near Khmeimim Air Base demanding protection from Russia. Others even took to social media demanding Israel to intervene, as it had vowed to protect the Druze minority in southern Syria before.
It’s worth noting that in the months following the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian government refused to integrate Alawites into the new military and security forces, or even to pardon those who were serving the former regime. In addition, thousands and thousands of government employees were released from their jobs, further worsening the economic situation on the coast.
While the West has been so far silent about the violations on the Syrian coast, it could very soon use the rebellion as a pretext to pressure the new government or even to intervene directly. Israel could also step in to secure a foothold on the shores of Syria, close to the main supply routes of Hezbollah passing through Tartus and nearby Homs.
The Syrian government failure to integrate the Alawites, or at least to provide them with security could turn out to be a very costly mistake. If the coast separates on its own or with some international help, Syria will cease to exist as it is.
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thank you president putin. with the help of course of your brics “friends” (at arms length)!… like your help to yanukovych “when he needed it most”… at least both he and assad have safety and a new home!
your comment is ironic, but it fails because it is true. thanks to the west, there is chaos in syria. thanks to the west, there is chaos in afghanistan. thanks to the west, there is chaos in libya. thanks to the west, there is chaos in ukraine, somalia, etc. etc.
sorry for missing the /s.. thanks to the “east” as well… china and india, as they could have saved lives and assisted the russian federation 10 years ago in both theater(s) with military -but instead sat on the fence keeping their un/unsc seats warm with their hands out after the “du$t” settled… they are as bad if not worse than the north americans/u.k. and eu for their duplicity starting with their assistance in 9/11 in a crime scene in return for jobs and u.$. manufacturing…
i agree russia was hung out alone in syria fight in another war . they did reduce isis and al-queada while engaged . funny how the new de-facto syrian dictator is a past member of both .
an indian buffalo with high reproductive potential congratulates @tradrussia natashas, says that as soon as putin puts all the ivans and akhmets through the meat grinder, he and his friends will happily move into apartments bought with “coffin money” and take natashas for a ride in white ladas.
httpss://t.me/tradrussia/1087
top news story on the main federal broadcaster (rossiya-1) of @tradrussia
https://t.me/tradrussia/998
why don’t you thank the ones really responsible for plunging syria into a free-for-all that will soon degenerate into an all out bloodbath? the zio regime and its western accomplices, the quisling gulf dictators, the backstabbing turks? and rheir legion of proxy headchoppers and throatslitters from 100 countries.
plenty of blood and blame to go around. the worst offenders being the zi0ni$t duo china and india!…
a j** in every hamlet. 5 dancin i$raelis with eastern european and i$raeli visa(s) that came to observe that day as the shot heard round the world that 23 years later continues to fall on deaf ears, especially china, india and russia!…
israels love to dance when others are in misery .
putin can’t do much when all those alawite military commanders took bribes and abandoned all the russian weapon systems provided to syria, worse letting them fall into the hands of the enemy. remember russia gave the syrian military full inventories of su-24/34 fighter bombers, mi-24/8 helicopters, tanks, bmps, rocket artillery, the whole arsenal needed to defend itself.
if the syrians actually used those weapons instead of surrendering, the terrorists wouldn’t be able use those same artillery and helicopters to commit these massacres right now.
i would argue putin in fact gave too much, and the saa were just too incompetent to get their own house in order, as parts of that arsenal is sure as hell getting airlifted by the cia to ukraine, where it is been used to attack russian soldiers.
what was the used to putin in syria who only settle us and erdogan in syria and gin over run in three days.when protestors were shoot nato declare previous government to deth.new soldier kill on spot.
the syria regime funded, trained, armed by israel & its us-eu slaves + turkey, arab countries will crush alawites & set an example to the druze & kurds. syria will be unified by the islamics now in charge. psionist & the, israel-first usa puppets can forget about breaking up syria. israel grip on the golan heights will always be threatened. if a few 1000 hamas did so much damage; imagine what syria under battle-harden hts-qaeda rule can do when they gain strength
hmmm. the us armed the government that is now in power…
yeah. the idlib so called anti-assad, “democratic” “rebels” had plenty of us made tow anti-tank missiles, other us made weapons even night vision and plenty of us gathered intelligence on assad’s armed forces. didn’t you know?
yes, now if you read the poster’s lips carefully, they did know the drugged up ratbags were adequately armed by ‘big israel’.
lots of weapons and personell got diverted from the ukraine project to coordinate the hts rise to power . on purpose . when trump pulls all support from ukraine . he will then change his focus to the desires of aipac .
if only….. they will fight each others and israël will kill the last man standing.
that would be nice but moslems reproduce like rodents i’ts like playing guaca mole
so muslims reproduce like an avocado based dip do they ? the only dip so far on this thread, but there’ll be plenty more, is you joojoo. and you’re one classic dipshit.💩💩💩 = 🇮🇱
gotta admit . the hasbara trolls here post some wild stuff
at least they are men, not gutless inbred curs. and it won’t end up like your little weenie fantasy 😢. 💩💩💩 =🇮🇱
that is a hasbara dream !
what …… for goodness sake, the terrorists regime are trained and paid by american cia. syria is been broken up as we speak, the north and east of syria has been given to turkey. by the usa! remember the towers, taken down, by al qeada, still working with american and israel, to murder muslims? if injured, treated by americans or israel, just shows how muslim these butchers really are!!!!
these proxy head choppers have never so much as lifted a finger against the zio regime and they never will.
where is rich arab countries,where is nato where is russia.brutality in syria is at hand every day.alawites are deprived from jobs just like in namibia by ruling majority corrupt tribe and call puppets.
arab countries and us-nato brought the brutality to syria and now they will lose in ukraine
all you mentioned are pro-sunni extremists, only show their actual faces in these videos above
the west turns its face away, why: because the “tyrant’s overthrowers” are heroes – they cannot commit genocide. so it’s better to keep quiet.
russia must to intervene like they did in libya together with egipt and eua and create a safe zone in the coast to protect civilians ( alawites, druze and christians)
well i hope pootin takes that idea up with the rat king when he’s in moscow soon for the commemorative great patriotic war shindig.
poor alawite comrades, erdoğan have chilling past with alawites this explains a lot.
the al assad dynasty is gone. erdo and the ottomans may be more conciliatory now. being ‘friends’ has benefits, especially when dealing with the eternal victims.
this is russia’s opportunity to at least partly redeem it’s previous blunder in syria! russia should stand up against hts terrorists and help establish a safe zone in western syria for all normal people! right now in terrorist-occupied syria, all non-sunnis are being massacred just for not being sunni and even sunni’s are being killed if they express their disagreement with the ultra-terrorist pro-zionist monstrosity of hts!
every able country must take part and help bring down the international terrorists of hts!
every able country that has moral leadership. now, not saying they’re in any way perfect, but if the chinese were persuaded to ‘interfere’ in syria in some meaningful way by an ally ? ? according to the pal. chronicle, diplomatically their stance is that gaza is palestine. finito ! 🤔
tell me did you expect a leopard to change it’s spots even after taking power in syria?
send in the robots to shoot everybody, take about 18 weeks, when its done build a wall around syria. no humans beyond this point under automated surveillance life and safety hazard.
only american isis or american cia al qaeda could butcher human beings like this, this is american democracy and trump is just a cog and part of it!
the only proper solution is to kll al julani and erdougan and aliyev and netanyahu along with him they are all responsible for the pogroms taking place in syria right now. its time people rise up and hold them all accountable for their c rimes against the syrian people. syria needs a full ssnp liberation and every turkish hts terrorist and foreign hts israeli and turkish agent needs to be exe cuted for their crimes against the syrian people
bravo jihadists, bravo. kill each other and stay away from israel.
your a moron
shlomo may sit back content at the chaos he has caused but he will not come unscathed out of the coming bloodbath. it’s just starting. i hope there’s room in germany and plenty of welfare money for another 5 million refugees.
and that is exactly why you su bver sive hand rubbing ki kes are behind it. your kind uses usery to play everyone off against eachoter and exploit them. and that is why everyone here and out there no matter your race or religion needs to wake up and stop fighting eachoter and see its the jews who are doing it to us and do what it takes to stop them.
brown people kill brown people. let’s be serious…nobody cares.
rebellion, sh-rebellion. lighten up! so they kill each other some more. who cares!
nothing we haven’t seen before. hello? libya, iraq. same fuxking shit
all of it incited and engineered by the (((same people))), a curse on humanity.
southfront is calling the hts terrorists the “new government” while the former government that protected the people from terrorism is called assad regime very interesting
inshallah saa regains control of damascus
this also could be a false flag staged by israel proxies to further the greater israel agenda . this kind of thing is very uncommon .
100% the minute someone says the truth someone else dislike it, most ppl that know the truth know the donbas resistance held by themselves for 8 years