Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Sunday that the country has been the victim of “several attempts to undermine its stability and plunge it in chaos.”
In a speech on the latest developments, he warned that the country is facing “a new danger represented in the former regime and foreign parties' attempts to create new strife and drag it to civil war with the aim of dividing it.”
The current threats are not temporary, “but a result of opportunistic attempts by certain parties to prolong the chaos.”
He revealed that similar developments to the ones that have taken place along the coast had happened a month and a half ago and that the authorities had succeeded in stemming them at the time.
“We must acknowledge that the ousted regime inflicted deep wounds during its time in power,” Sharaa went on to say, citing the various prisons where the regime had detained people, “rape, chemical weapons, displacement and the destruction of houses.”
“All of this left wounds that will be difficult to heal and culminated in the latest developments despite the state's attempts to avert them,” he went on to say.
Sharaa stressed that from the very moment the regime was ousted in December, the security forces sent reinforcements to the coast to protect the people and prevent reprisals.
Instead, “these forces were attacked and several of its members were murdered and people were attacked,” he stated.
“The parties that committed these crimes are the same ones who committed the ugly crimes against the Syrian people throughout the past 14 years,” Sharaa added.
He vowed that the authorities will not be lenient “with the regime remnants who committed crimes against our soldiers and state institutions, who attacked hospitals and killed innocent civilians and who spread chaos in safe regions.”
The remnants “have no choice but to turn themselves in to the law,” he urged.
“We will hold to account everyone who shed the blood of the innocent, violated the state authority and abused power to achieve their personal goals,” he went on to say. “They will face justice sooner or later.”
Moreover, Sharaa said an investigation committee has been formed to probe the violence along the coast, bring the perpetrators to justice and reveal the truth to the Syrian people.
Syrian security sources said more than 300 of their members had been killed in clashes with former army personnel owing allegiance to Assad in coordinated attacks and ambushes on their forces that began on Thursday.
Syria's state news agency SANA reported on Sunday that a mass grave had been discovered near Qardaha, Assad's hometown, containing the bodies of recently killed security forces.
The attacks spiraled into revenge killings when thousands of armed supporters of Syria's new leaders from across the country descended to the coastal areas to support beleaguered forces of the new administration.
A security source said Assad loyalists had attacked several public utilities in the last 24 hours, disrupting electricity and water supplies.
The Damascus authorities were also sending reinforcements to beef up their security presence in the mountainous Latakia province, where thick forests in rugged terrain were helping the anti-government fighters, another police source said.
Defense Ministry spokesperson Col. Hassan Abdel Ghani said Sunday that security forces have restored control of the region and will continue pursuing leaders of the regime remnants.
