Gunmen attacked a position held by Syrian security forces in Damascus overnight, a war monitor said Monday, raising fears that the deadly violence sweeping Syria’s coastal region could spread to other parts of the country.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has monitored the Syrian conflict since 2011, said that unidentified gunmen threw grenades and opened fire overnight on a building housing government security forces in the highly fortified Mezzeh district of the capital, Damascus. Clashes with government security forces ensued, and it was unclear if anyone was injured, the observatory said. It added that an unspecified number of arrests had been made.
There was no immediate comment from Syria’s new government or on state news media, and the information could not be independently verified.
The attack came as the country was reeling from a spate of violence that erupted last week between fighters affiliated with Syria’s new government, headed by Ahmed al-Shara, and those loyal to the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad.
More than 1,300 people have been killed since the fighting began, largely in the coastal Latakia and Tartus Provinces, the heartland of Syria’s Alawite minority, according to the observatory. It said on Monday that about 1000 civilians were included in that figure, most of whom were killed by armed forces affiliated with or loyal to the new government. The information could not be independently verified.
The violence has stoked fears of a renewed sectarian conflict and presented what appeared to be the most serious challenge yet to Syria’s new leaders as they attempt to unite the country after more than a decade of war. The Assad family is Alawite and the sect dominated the country’s upper class and highest ranks of the former regime’s military.
While state news media quoted a spokesman for the defense ministry, Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani, as saying on Monday that the “military operation” was over, the violence reportedly continued, as fighters affiliated with the government stormed a town near the coastal port city of Baniyas and set fire to homes, according to the observatory. .
Syria’s interim president, Mr. al-Shara, said on Sunday that the government was forming a fact-finding committee to investigate the violence in the coastal regions and to bring the perpetrators to justice. But it wasn’t clear if he was acknowledging possible killings at the hands of his forces or laying the blame on former regime elements.
In an apparent bid to reassure the nation, he appealed for calm on Sunday and repeated calls for Assad loyalists to lay down their arms.
“We must preserve national unity and civil peace,” Mr. al-Shara said at a mosque in Damascus, according to video that circulated online.