Rebels, mainly made up of the Alawite minority, are still conducting operations against Syrian government forces on the coast, despite taking heavy losses over the past two days.
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 rebellion broke out on March 6 following a deadly security operation in the town of Beit Aana in the countryside of Latakia, with Alawite officers from the former Syrian Arab Army leading attacks on government forces.
After initial success in Latakia, Qardaha, Jableh, Banias and Tartus, the rebels were overpowered by government forces which brought in large reinforcements and used heavy weapons over the night of March 7. As the rebels retreated, reports of massacres by government forces targeting Alawite civilians across the coast began to surface. More than 340 civilians have been killed so far, with Alawites making the vast majority of the victimes.
Despite the heavy losses, the rebels launched more operations on March 8. Around a dozen government fighters were reportedly killed in three separate ambushes near Banias.
In addition, photos posted to social networks showed the burnt dead bodies of several other government fighters which were found in another part of the coast.
Separately, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that government forces were able to enter Qardaha on March 8. However, clashes are still being reported there. Furthermore, an ambush took place in the nearby area of al-Hafa with at least three government fighters killed.
A day earlier, Syria’s transitional president Ahmad al-Sharaa – who led the offensive that overthrew the regime of former president Assad last December – vowed to pursue those responsible for attacking government forces and called on rebels to surrender their weapons immediately.
Activists close to the government said that at least 120 loyalists have been killed on the coast since the start of the rebellion.
Overall, it appears that the Syrian government’s violent crackdown left the rebels with no other option but fighting. This will prolong the conflict on the coast and make it more difficult for al-Sharaa to legitimize his Islamists government.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
the zio/ us proxy headchopper jewlani and his terrorist “government” have reverted fully to type and gone into full atrocity and massacre mode, trying to outdo their genocidal zionist chums. the communities targeted will respond in kind in self defence and repay the bloodthirsty headchoppers in their own coin. the most nauseating aspect of this is nuttyyahoo trying to pose as the protector of the kurds and druze.
but not for much longer… this is happening in large part due to the lack of capitulation from the subordinate “partner” in moscow,ie “‘we can’t stop them’ – thousands of ukraine troops suddenly face encirclement in russia’s kursk” that isn’t cooperating as the other member($) had hoped and wants it’s share. but… when all is said and done we will all go down with their ship -like it or not.
sad but nothing compared to the 50,000+ unarmed, innocent, women, children and newborns killed in gaza hospitals, schools, mosques, refugee camps, by the israelis using free 2,000lb us-provided bombs, jet fuel and us intelligence.
don’t worry. the numbers of dead will get higher in syria.
don’t forget the uk aircraft from cyprus spying on the gaza strip, the heroic “allies”.
idk exactly what happened. but all those alawites fighting for assad who surrendered to these hts seemed to have really screwed up.
if they thought life sucked under assad wait til they get a load of this new zio backed scum government. did they think they were gonna give them back their oil fields?
how can you blame alawites only for what happened in late november/early december? most of syrian arab army were sunnis. they were betrayed by the high command, not the fault of most of these soldiers.
i always said this and let me say it again: syria needs to elect chatgpt as its president.
quit calling these terrorists “syrian government forces” 99% of them are not even syrian.
most of these forces are drugged up greasy cretins
an odd ragbag of 20,000 head choppers, halfwits and desperadoes from 100 countries, serving their zio and us paymasters. the scum of the earth enlisted not for drink as in wellington’s time, but for a licence to murder, rape, torture and loot. they are the subhuman filth of the west’s jihadi foreign legion, and surprise, surprise, these oh-so-radical “islamists” have never so much as broken a window in israel.
russia should intervene to protect the rebels, the more hts terrorist scum is wiped out in syria, the less will be able to come to russia to conduct crocus-like massacres against civilians!
many lgbt rebels in my ugly burgerland village
hts terrorists are incapable of normal human speech, all their tiny inhuman brains can do is to scream “allahu akbar!” a thousand times per minute, that’s the limit of their vocabulary.
seems like mr. jd vance was right. sometimes there are bad guys and worse guys.
–
the worst of the worst have big noses and little hats.
the greater israel project must divide to conquer . false flags incoming . genocide and starvation for the innocent .
trump and putin should disarmed and denuclearized france,israel and britain not iran who stand in their way of stealing and robbing small countries.chosen ones are not allowed by god to kill others.
who gave france,israel and britain the licence to kill and attack other countries.
sohr = mi6. hts = isis = mossad.
russia pulled the plug under assad and now should support the alawite and other freedom fighters against the turkish, cia and mossad supported salafist terrorists. these are brave people who need support.
assad’s fall should have rang alarm bells as to what would happen should the hts and it’s allies be given the excuse to commit mass murder.
the alawites should have prepared the defense of their existence more thoroughly than to launch an armed rebellion at this late juncture.
the first month of power consolidation was the hardest phase for the current government. instead, the alawites waited and hoped for a more ‘peaceful’ transition.
this is the leader america recognized, not assad who kept the peace . . .
i hope that the same people will liberate chechnya and declare it a sovereign state with the help of european money.
syria gets new cash shipment from russia in sign of warming ties the assad regime began paying russia to print its currency under a multi-million dollar contract agreed during the country’s 13-year civil war. mena 3 min read the new arab staff & agencies 06 march, 2025 last update 06 march, 2025 15:58 pm
syria received a new shipment of its local currency printed in russia on wednesday with more consignments expected in the future, a syrian government official said, in a new sign of improving ties between moscow and syria’s new rulers.
the cash arrived via plane at damascus airport on wednesday and was taken by a convoy of several trucks to the central bank, according to a separate source familiar with the matter.
syria began paying russia to print its currency under a multi-million dollar contract during the 13-year-old syrian civil war, after damascus’ previous contract with a subsidiary of the austrian central bank was terminated due to european sanctions.
it is unclear if the arrangement is now continuing under the same terms. one source familiar with the contract said it was
russia backed syrian autocrat bashar al-assad during the war, swaying the conflict with its bombardment of rebels including the islamist group hayat tahrir al-sham that ousted assad in a lightning offensive last year.
but russia quickly moved to maintain its ties with damascus in the weeks after assad fled to moscow, with an eye on keeping its two key bases in the country’s coastal region.