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Members of Syria’s new police force have been killed in clashes in Tartus province, marking the deadliest night since the ousting of the Assad regime.

The Syrian transitional government, dominated by the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, said its forces were conducting a security operation in Tartus on Wednesday night when they were ambushed by people loyal to ousted president Bashar. al-Assad. Fourteen members of the new interior ministry office were killed.

The fighting in Tartus, a coastal province and bastion of the Assad regime, came as protests erupted in different parts of the country after videos emerged showing the burning of a shrine revered by Alawitesa Syrian minority sect belonging to and empowered by Assad. Some videos also show rebels trampling dead bodies at the entrance of the shrine.

The interim government said videos circulating on social media showing a fire engulfing an Alawite mausoleum in Aleppo were old and dated back to when HTS took control of the city weeks ago. The motive behind publishing them is “to stir up conflict among the Syrian people at this sensitive stage”, the interior ministry said.

“As a result, some remnants of the former regime on the Syrian coast tried to take advantage of the rumors and targeted our forces,” it added.

The information ministry on Thursday banned the circulation and publication of content “of a sectarian nature aimed at spreading division and discrimination” and promised to prosecute violators.

Ammar Mohammed and Ahmed Bilal, the two Alawite clerics in charge of the Aleppo shrine, tried to quell the growing anger on Wednesday and called on people to “restrain themselves and be reasonable” when faced with the acts. that “incited sedition”.

The unrest underscores the security concerns facing the country’s new leadership, which has gone from governing a small pocket of northwestern Syria to ruling most of the vast Sunni-majority country.

Tensions also flared in the capital, with forces affiliated with the HTS-led government deployed to restore calm in Damascus after protests broke out in the Mezzeh 86 district, a predominantly Alawite neighborhood. .

Unconfirmed reports of attacks on Alawites and revenge killings targeting officials of the former regime have spread in recent weeks, with members of the community calling on the government to stop these incidents and spread the many forces to secure their places.

Activists and members of civil society in Syria have emphasized the importance of dedicating resources to set up the security apparatus and the justice ministry to bring stability to the country that is divided between armed supporters of the Assad regime and armed rebels loyal to HTS.

Many of the former regime’s loyalists and soldiers abandoned their posts and went into hiding on the night of Assad’s fall, but there are fears that some may try to mount an insurgency.

Settlement centers have been created placed all over the countrywhere former military personnel can sign up for civilian IDs and surrender their arms. But most appeared without their weapons, raising the specter of future clashes with the heavily armed nation.

Cartography by Clara Murray