Police patrol the area after clashes between protesters from the Alawite religious minority and pro government counter protesters erupted two days after an attack on an Alawite mosque. © Omar Albam, AP
Syrian authorities have arrested 21 people in the coastal province of Latakia over alleged links to the ousted government of former president Bashar al-Assad, state media reported, after sectarian violence prompted an overnight curfew in the provincial capital.
Authorities in Syria’s Latakia province arrested 21 people allegedly linked to former president Bashar al-Assad’s rule on Tuesday, state media said, as a curfew blanketed the provincial capital following sectarian violence the previous night.
Monday’s attacks in predominantly Alawite neighborhoods of Latakia city came after three people, including a member of the security forces, were killed a day earlier, as thousands protested in the minority community’s coastal heartland over a deadly mosque bombing
State television said security forces in coastal Latakia province arrested 21 “former regime remnants who are involved in criminal acts, sectarian incitement and targeting internal security forces”.
The report followed the imposition of an overnight curfew until 6:00am (0300 GMT) on Wednesday in Latakia, a mixed city in Syria’s Alawite coastal heartland that also includes several Sunni-majority neighborhoods.
AFP correspondents saw residents cleaning up on Tuesday after the previous night’s attacks, during which cars were damaged and shops vandalised.
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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a young Alawite man was shot dead during the unrest “after being chased” by several men.
Syrian authorities said on Monday that security forces had reinforced their deployment in Latakia.
Interior ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba said on Tuesday that Syria rejected “any acts of sabotage or attacks that affect the dignity of citizens or their property”, adding that the necessary legal measures would be taken against those responsible.
Since the ousting of Assad, himself an Alawite, in December last year, the minority group has been the target of repeated attacks.
A bombing at a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of the central Syrian city of Homs on Friday killed eight people.
The Saraya Ansar al-Sunna Islamist militant group, which analysts say acts as a front for Islamic State (IS) jihadists, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Hundreds of Alawites were killed in sectarian massacres in the community’s coastal heartland in March.
Despite assurances from Damascus that all of Syria’s communities will be protected, the country’s minorities remain wary about their future under the new authorities.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
