On Thursday morning, the country's interim administration announced that forces loyal to the ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad had ambushed security officers of the new government. It is said that 14 people were killed and ten others were injured.
According to this source, clashes between the security forces and supporters of Assad took place on Tuesday in the port area of Tartus in the west of the country.
Security officials are said to have been ambushed while trying to arrest a former Assad military officer for his activities in the notorious Saydnaya prison, located near Damascus.
The Reuters news agency reported that demonstrations and riots, which were incited by Assad's supporters, mainly from his Alawite sect, took place in other cities of Syria. In several of them, including Homs, the new authorities imposed a curfew.
>> They overthrew the dictator and are drafted into the army
The fall of the Assad regime
Syria's new interior minister threatened on Telegram that “anyone who dares to threaten Syria's security or the lives of its citizens will be destroyed.”
The Assad regime fell just two weeks ago as a result of a swift insurgent attack in the north-east of the country. The deposed dictator fled to Russia with his family.
Portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in an abandoned office in Damascus PAP/EPA/ANTONIO PEDRO SANTOS
READ MORE: The message that never was, cowardly escapes, extraordinary memoirs of Iranians. The last moments of the Assad regime
Main photo source: PAP/EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU
