In less than 48 hours, Syria's coastline went up in flames and the entire country held its breath. Following several attacks on security forces in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, on Friday, March 7, the new transitional authorities in Damascus dispatched thousands of soldiers to this bastion of the Alawite minority, from which Bashar al-Assad's clan descends, to wage battle against an armed insurrection launched by loyalists of the deposed regime.

The spark was lit in the village of Beit Ana, in the countryside south of the town of Jableh, in southern Latakia. On Thursday, a General Security patrol was ambushed by gunmen, leaving 13 of the new regime's forces dead and several others wounded. Clashes quickly spread to the region's towns and villages, pitting the forces of the provisional government against militias and supporters of the old regime, who seized several military positions.

Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad on December 8, 2024, many regime officers and senior members have taken refuge in this mountain region bordering the Mediterranean Sea, giving rise to regular but sporadic skirmishes with the country's new leaders. "This time, everything indicates that the attacks were premeditated, well-coordinated and planned. We were confronted with simultaneous assaults by heavily armed men with foreign communications systems," asserted Nasser Zidane, in charge of the media office for the new local authorities in Latakia.

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