Damascus Restores Control over Coast after Clashes with Regime Remnants

Tensions remained high along the Syrian coast after clashes between the country’s new security authorities and remnants of the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Defense Ministry spokesman Hassan Abdulghani declared on Friday that the authorities have restored complete control over Latakia and Tartous.

The security forces have carried out intense security campaigns in the coastal cities of Latakia, Tartous and Banyas and imposed a curfew across the area.

“The forces will continue to deal with what remains of the criminals. Everyone involved is being turned over to the concerned security forces to ensure that they are held to account according to the law,” he said.

He warned that anyone who refuses to lay down arms to the state will be met with a “firm and severe response,” reported the state news agency SANA.

“The time of dictatorship is over, and the Baath Party is gone and will never return,” he declared.

Abdulghani warned that the remnants of the regime want to “create sedition” between people living in diverse sectarian regions.

‘Military council’

Meanwhile, a source in the Interior Ministry confirmed that remnants of the regime have assassinated several members of the police and security forces, prompting popular masses to head to the coast where “individual violations” were committed.

The forces are working on putting a stop to these violations that “do not represent the majority of the Syrian people,” the source said.

The chief of police in Latakia announced that the city has been secured.

Smoke rises while members of the Syrian forces ride on a vehicle as they battle against Assad loyalists in Latakia, Syria March 7, 2025. (Reuters)

Authorities in Latakia said the curfew will be lifted at 9 am on Saturday, reported the Watan newspaper.

The curfew in Tartous will be lifted at 10 am.

The Defense Ministry had sent military reinforcements to the coast after clashes between the new authorities and regime remnants left dozens dead and hundreds wounded.

Former regime figures, who have been accused of violations against the Syrian people, emerged from the clashes in wake of the announcement of the formation of a “military council for the liberation of Syria”.

The council is led by Ghaith Dala, who is considered one of the most prominent members of the notorious Fourth Division, which was led by Maher al-Assad, Bashar’s brother.

Dala the leader of the so-called “Ghaith forces” that was backed by Iran.

The violence spiraled on Thursday when the authorities said groups of Assad-aligned militias targeted security patrols and checkpoints in the Jableh area and surrounding countryside, before spreading.

Military officials from the new authorities said Thursday’s clashes took place with groups affiliated with Suheil al-Hassan, also known as “The Tiger”, who was leader of the former regime’s 25th Special Mission Forces Division.

The security forces also announced the arrest of Ibrahim Huweija, former chief of intelligence, who is accused of hundreds of assassinations, including that of prominent Druze Lebanese leader Walid Jumblatt in the 1977.

Foreign support and intervention

A political activist in Homs told Asharq Al-Awsat that the new military council is an alliance of ousted regime officers and other officers who were opposed to it. They are receiving their orders from foreign powers, including Israel.

This was evident from their statements that demanded protection from Israel, the United Nations and international community.

This group has a foreign agenda, asserted the activist. No one inside Syria would dare make such declarations because they know how dangerous it is to collaborate with Israel.

He warned of the continued marginalization of civilians living in coastal regions. Poverty and hunger may force them to carry arms against the new authorities.

The situation is “very bad and frightening”, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The military council is forging ahead with its plans and is demanding the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 2254, he warned.

The call coincided with others in the southern region of Sweida where armed groups affiliated with Druze Sheikh Aql in Israel Mowafaq Tarif and others loyal to the ousted regime called for autonomous rule in the area, noted the activist.

The military council announced on Thursday that it wanted to oust the new authorities in Damascus.

Researcher at the Jusoor center for research Wael Alwan said the developments along the coast were an organized act.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the unrest is aimed at creating chaos and using the chaos to take these regions out of the control of the new authorities.

Syrians demonstrate in support of the Syrian government, after attacks carried out by groups loyal to ousted leader Bashar al-Assad in the Latakia region, in Aleppo, Syria, March 7, 2025. (Reuters)

He dismissed its claim that it wanted to oust the new authorities because the regime remnants and their backers in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) do not have enough military power to achieve that goal.

So, they will instead resort to fueling chaos and pressuring the new government to seize control over vast regions of the coast, Alwan explained.

This will also serve the goal of portraying the unrest as sectarian, which could lead to foreign intervention, he warned.

Foreign intervention is one of the most important goals of the clashes that have taken place, he stressed.

He accused Iran of fueling the fighting and funding the fighters, but its goals have failed, citing the people’s rallying behind the new authorities.

People took to the streets of Homs, Hama and Deir Ezzor overnight on Thursday to express their support to the new authorities in their crackdown against the former regime.

Moussa al-Omar, a Syrian media figure close to the country's new leadership, told Reuters that tens of thousands of fighters in Syria's newly constituted security forces had been deployed to the coast in the operation and order had been largely restored as of Friday night.

Syrians again took to the streets on Friday to rally in support of the government in Damascus and other cities.

The brief detention of Talal Naji, Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC), by Syrian authorities has renewed scrutiny over the status of Palestinian factions still operating in Syria, particularly those that aligned with the former Assad regime.

Naji’s arrest and swift release come amid a major political realignment following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024. Once one of the most active and heavily armed Palestinian groups in Syria, the PFLP-GC now faces an uncertain future, along with other factions that were long tolerated—or even supported—under Assad’s rule.

A well-informed Palestinian source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the new Syrian administration has appointed a figure known as Abu Abdul Rahman al-Shami to oversee the file of Palestinian factions. Since assuming the role, al-Shami has convened multiple meetings with faction representatives, including regular attendees from the PFLP-GC, to discuss the fate of their fighters, weapons, property, and military infrastructure.

According to the source, al-Shami has made it clear that the new government intends to hold accountable any individuals or groups implicated in crimes against Syrian civilians during the civil war. Palestinian factions have been instructed to surrender all weapons and military equipment, and to limit their activities to humanitarian and relief work. The PFLP-GC, the source said, has largely complied.

Despite the fall of the Assad regime, Naji and much of the PFLP-GC’s second- and third-tier leadership have remained in Syria. Its offices in Damascus reportedly continue to operate, though under heightened scrutiny. Other faction leaders, however, have fled. Among them are Khaled Abdul Majid (Popular Struggle Front), Ziyad al-Saghir (Fatah–Intifada), Mohammad al-Saeed (Liwa al-Quds), and Saed Abdel Al (Free Palestine Movement). Most are believed to have sought refuge in Lebanon.

Sources confirmed that several PFLP-GC fighters have been detained in recent weeks in connection with alleged war crimes committed during their cooperation with Assad’s forces. The Syrian government has also moved to seize faction offices and military installations across the country, including properties belonging to Fatah–Intifada, the Free Palestine Movement, and the Sa’iqa Forces. Sa’iqa’s leader, Mohammad Qais, remains in Syria.

In a further blow, authorities have reportedly frozen bank accounts belonging to some Palestinian factions, both in state and private banks, although it remains unclear whether the PFLP-GC is among them.

Additionally, it is widely believed that the PFLP-GC has handed over its military training camps, which were previously spread across Damascus countryside, Daraa, Aleppo, and Suwayda. “The situation is extremely sensitive, and everyone is anxious,” one Palestinian source told Asharq Al-Awsat. “It’s likely they’ve surrendered those sites.”

The sense of unease deepened last month when Syrian authorities detained two senior Islamic Jihad officials in Damascus: Khaled Khaled, head of the group’s Syria bureau, and Abu Ali Yasser, its chief organizational officer. Both remain in custody, and no official charges have been announced.

The current atmosphere of fear and uncertainty has driven faction leaders to avoid public comment. Most now insist on anonymity when speaking to local or international media.

Before the outbreak of the Syrian uprising in March 2011, Syria hosted more than a dozen Palestinian factions. As the conflict escalated, the Assad regime encouraged the formation of new pro-regime groups, composed largely of Palestinian refugees, to fight alongside its forces.

Damascus Restores Control over Coast after Clashes with Regime Remnants