Enab Baladi – Muwafaq al-Khouja
Events have erupted again on the Syrian scene after nearly three months since the fall of the Assad regime, this time from the Syrian coast, following movements from the “remnants of the Assad regime.”
These elements targeted security forces and military checkpoints in coordinated simultaneous ambushes, resulting in dozens of casualties among security personnel and civilians. They were met with a military campaign from supportive factions and groups that also led to violations and civilian deaths.
The movements of the regime remnants were described as unprecedented, as cities like Latakia and Tartus, among others, witnessed clashes that are still ongoing at the time of this report’s release. The interim government in Damascus is attempting to contain the attacks from the remnants of the Assad regime and address the accompanying violations.
Starting from Beit Aana
Tensions on the Syrian coast began in the town of Beit Aana, associated with al-Daliah in southern Jableh, the birthplace of the commander of the 25th Division, Suhail al-Hassan. This followed a direct targeting of a patrol that resulted in casualties on March 6.
The targeting was repeated while evacuating the injured, as noted by the media relations officer in Latakia province, Nour El-Din Brimo, to Enab Baladi, prompting the Ministries of Defense and Interior to launch a campaign to pursue those they refer to as “remnants of the regime.”
Helicopter strikes were involved in the campaign, targeting what Brimo described as “precise” locations of the “regime remnants” in the mountains surrounding the al-Daliah and Beit Aana areas, alongside operations to comb the surrounding mountains.
In the early hours of the evening, attacks intensified on the positions of General Security personnel and the Defense Ministry from various checkpoints and security posts in multiple coastal areas, culminating in the remnants of the regime seizing several locations, including Qardaha, the birthplace of the Assad family, and surrounding the naval academy in Jableh. They also spread in urban centers in Latakia and Tartus, in addition to Jableh and Baniyas.
The movements prompted the Syrian administration to quickly mobilize and send convoys of reinforcements from various areas, as well as support from factions that were previously part of the opposition, and civilians who rallied to assist them. These convoys faced ambushes on the roads leading to the Syrian coast.
Amid these movements, a statement emerged about the establishment of what was called the “Military Council for the Liberation of Syria,” aimed at overthrowing the current government, led by Ghiyath Dalla, a commander of the Fourth Division of the former regime’s army, who committed massacres in Daraya and Moadamiyet al-Sham during the siege and storming operations of the two cities, according to the site “Pro Justice.”
Video recordings also surfaced of the former regime’s military leader, Muqdad Fatiha, who had previously announced the establishment of what he called the “Coastal Shield,” roaming with his elements.
Prior to these movements, calls had been made by the so-called “Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora” for peaceful demonstrations against the security campaigns in the coastal region.
“A planned coup”
Military analyst Colonel Abdul Jabbar al-Akidi believes that what happened on the Syrian coast is a “planned coup.”
Al-Akidi stated to Enab Baladi that the targeting of sensitive security and military sites indicates a high level of planning and organization that surpasses individual and random acts.
He explained that the style employed in the attacks is referred to as “guerrilla warfare,” characterized by coordination between fronts, simultaneous timing at different points, and tactics of fighting in mountainous areas through strikes, ambushes, and targeting the new administration’s apparatuses, before retreating towards the mountains.
He emphasized that the remnants of the former regime have mastered this tactic since they are mostly officers and non-commissioned officers from the Fourth Division, 25th Division, and Republican Guard. Consequently, most of them are trained and possess medium and heavy weapons.
Additionally, the mountainous geographical nature helps them disappear and conduct hit-and-run operations while targeting the supply lines of the Syrian army.
Al-Akidi believes that behind the events on the coast are military and security operations rooms supported by various parties, led by Israel and Iran.
Who supports the “remnants of the Assad regime”?
Military researcher Rashid Hourani from the Jusoor for Studies Center pointed to an Iranian role, as evidenced by the statements issued and attempts to invest in the regime’s remnants by adopting operations under the name of “the Syrian Resistance.” He spoke about their presence in the coastal areas and villages.
He believes Russia may have a role due to the stagnation of negotiations with Damascus and that Israel could seek to confuse and weaken the new authority while speculating that collaboration occurred between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and officers who fled to Iraq.
For his part, al-Akidi mentioned there was support from the Lebanese Hezbollah, which attempted to send ammunition and weapons but failed, as forces stationed on the Syrian-Lebanese border expected smuggling operations at any time.
The semi-official Iranian “Mehr” news agency and other agencies close to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) described the Syrian regime’s remnants in their coverage of the coastal events as “the Syrian popular resistance,” while referring to the security and military forces as “al-Jolani’s gangs.”
Iran and its regional proxy, Hezbollah, were the main allies that former president Bashar al-Assad relied upon. With his downfall, Tehran and its proxies became removed from the Syrian geography and its political landscape.
Iranian official statements regarding the current authority in Damascus vary, as Tehran indicates caution in reinstating relations and dealing with it carefully. However, in military terms (from the IRGC), the tone seems more aggressive.
The Turkiye newspaper reported on February 11 that a meeting took place in the Iraqi city of Najaf between generals from the IRGC and officers from the former regime’s army to plan a coup against the government in Damascus.
Iraq denied at that time the presence of military activities on its territory involving Syrian fighters, although it hosts over 100 Syrian officers, some of whom are high-ranking, who fled there during the military operations that ousted al-Assad’s regime.
The Syrian officer Ghiyath Dalla, the leader of the Military Council for the Liberation of Syria, which emerged concurrently with the coastal events, is known for his close ties with the Iranian axis within the former regime.
The head of Syrian intelligence, Anas Khattab, accused, in turn, individuals from the former regime, who are fugitives and “wanted for justice,” of being behind the planning and directing of operations on the coast.
How powerful are the “remnants of the regime”?
Hours after the movements of elements from the former regime, the Syrian administration announced the absorption of the attack. The next morning, on March 7, security forces from the interior and defense ministries spread throughout the cities of Latakia, Tartus, Jableh, and Baniyas and began combing operations in the surrounding rural areas and towns, regaining control of points lost in the past few days.
Military researcher Rashid Hourani stated to Enab Baladi that the strength of the former regime’s elements can be estimated by observing the speed at which the General Security Forces and military forces regained control of the areas, indicating a lack of popular support for those groups and their inefficiency as well as a lack of fighting spirit and morale.
On the other hand, Colonel Abdul Jabbar al-Akidi believes that the attack indicates that the perpetrators possessed prior intelligence about the movements of the security forces, confirming the presence of internal and external entities providing them with logistical and informational support.
Hourani pointed to a preemptive operation by the General Security Forces based on security information, targeting the movements of the “remnants of the regime,” linking this to the statements issued by Ghiyath Dalla regarding the formation of a “military council,” in addition to statements that carried religious references, such as the “Supreme Alawite Council.”
Hourani noted that these statements attempted to impart a sectarian coloring to what was happening, but that did not occur on the part of the government forces.
Political factors
Researcher and academic Dr. Abdul Rahman al-Haj linked what occurred on the Syrian coast to the imminent formation of a transitional government.
It is expected that a transitional government will be formed at the beginning of March, following the government of Mohammed al-Bashir, and Damascus has pledged to create one that includes all Syrians based on competencies.
Al-Haj believes, in his talk to Enab Baladi, that the coastal attacks from former regime elements at this particular moment signify that the goal is to thwart the transitional phase.
There may be information with the current government regarding the timing of the operation, and thus it was thwarted by setting the date for the transitional government, which takes time to establish, while also relating to gaining political legitimacy after forming the government.
Abdul Rahman al-Haj, Syrian researcher and academic
According to al-Haj, the regime remnants sought to establish legitimacy that would lead to a deeper phase, which involves searching for sectarian roots for these movements through the actions of certain elements.
These actions included incidents of killing worshippers at the Abu Bakr al-Siddiq mosque in Jableh and sniping veiled women, using sectarian language in operations that contrasted with the religious terminology previously used by former opposition factions.
He indicated that the operation involved provoking religious sentiments and transforming it into a sectarian conflict, which contributes to achieving the goal of obstructing a transitional phase in which marginalized parties and others are suppressed.
Government security reinforcements to Tartus countryside – March 9, 2025 (SANA)
Violations
The military operations against the remnants of the former regime on the Syrian coast resulted in casualties on both sides, along with a significant number of civilian victims.
The director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), Fadel Abdul Ghani, stated to Enab Baladi that what he describes as “armed gangs outside the state framework” attacked security forces, killing around 121 of them through ambushes, describing this number as “terrifying.”
The former regime’s elements also killed 26 civilians during their attacks on the coast, according to the director of the network.
These operations prompted the General Security Forces to retaliate, with announcements that they were pursuing the “remnants of the regime,” but this was accompanied by numerous “violations” against civilians during this operation. The initial toll, according to Abdul Ghani, indicates the killing of 164 civilians, including 7 children and 13 women, in the villages of al-Mukhtariya, al-Haffa, al-Ghandara, and in western Hama in Arze, Qamhana, and the al-Qusoors neighborhood in Baniyas, noting that the bodies were left in place.
The violations, according to Abdul Ghani, were perpetrated by elements from northern Syrian factions, which include untrained individuals, in addition to civilians who took up arms, as the government was compelled to recruit them due to nearly a complete dissolution of the security and police apparatus.
Abdul Ghani pointed out, at the same time, that the liberation operations that began in Aleppo and reached Damascus at the end of November 2024 did not result in the killing of a single civilian due to the strict control of the Military Operations Administration over their elements.
He stated that the violations committed by government-loyal fighters were driven by the fact that security personnel from their families and friends were killed by elements of the former regime or due to mobilization and incitement operations.
Abdul Ghani called on the Ministry of Interior and the General Security Administration to open serious investigations to hold accountable those who committed these violations and to apologize to the victims and compensate them, noting that this would open the floodgates for retaliatory operations and a cycle of sectarian violence.
He pointed out that the remnants of the regime are few in number, estimated at about 1,500 individuals, and that most of the Alawite community is against them, warning that if matters are not controlled, tens of thousands may join them, thus plunging the country into a cycle of civil war and sectarian conflict.
For its part, the Ministry of Defense stated that it had previously formed an emergency committee to monitor violations and refer those who exceeded instructions during the recent military and security operation to military courts.
What are the next steps?
The events that took place on the Syrian coast were not isolated to March 6; however, they were unprecedented in terms of the wide spread of elements from the former regime and their control over several points.
Clashes are occurring almost daily throughout the Syrian geography controlled by the Damascus government, especially in the Syrian coast, which is home to many former regime officers, and General Security Forces are subjected to ambushes leading to casualties on their side, notably the killing of 14 personnel in an ambush in the Tartus countryside on December 26, 2024.
For his part, al-Akidi stated that the repetition of these operations is due to the presence of weapons in the hands of the remnants of the regime and their utilization of mountainous areas. If this operation is not decisively concluded and they are eliminated, it will continue.
He believes that the current events on the coast present an opportunity for the General Security and the Syrian army to decisively resolve this battle and eliminate the remnants of the regime so that they do not rise again.
He argues that the Syrian security and the new army are not incapable of eradicating this “rebellion,” as they are trained and possess special forces capable of operating in the mountains.
This requires, according to al-Akidi, the drawing of a long-term strategy for the distribution and deployment of forces in the Syrian coastal areas, and the establishment of permanent posts, brigades, and battalions in the region to prevent the regime remnants from carrying out operations again.
The researcher at the Jusoor for Studies Center, Rashid Hourani, believes that addressing the remnants of the former regime can be accomplished through four directions.
The first is a security approach, which involves preparing a list of all the heads of the “shabiha” and senior officers involved and pursuing them, while also directing a national discourse to the people for cooperation and preventing the regime remnants from exploiting them for various reasons, such as living conditions.
The second direction is legal, through the pursuit of transitional justice, while the third is a military institutional professional approach, involving cooperation with defected officers and conducting an inventory of the units they defected from regarding their number and equipment.
The fourth aspect is economic, related to addressing the salaries of those dismissed from work in the civilian sectors, which has created a “hostile” segment towards the new administration and could potentially work with the regime remnants by providing Iranian support.
Elements of the Syrian General Security Forces within reinforcements sent by the Syrian government to Tartus countryside – March 9, 2025 (SANA)
Government forces begin addressing violations
A convoy of government forces was dispatched to control the violations and assaults following a bloody day on the Syrian coast.
A source from the Ministry of Defense told the official news agency (SANA) on Saturday, March 8, that after regaining control over most areas that experienced attacks from remnants of the regime, the Ministry of Defense, in coordination with the General Security Administration, has closed the roads leading to the coastal area to address violations, prevent transgressions, and gradually restore stability to the region.
The source added that the ministry had previously formed an emergency committee to monitor violations, referring those who breached the leadership’s instructions during the latest military and security operation to the military court.
Security forces affiliated with the interim government in Damascus seized stolen items belonging to residents in Latakia province after tensions in the city over the past two days.
SANA reported, citing an unnamed source from the General Security Administration, that more than 200 vehicles had been confiscated, stolen by what it termed “weak souls and thieves” from the city of Jableh and surrounding areas in the countryside of Latakia, taking advantage of the instability.
Security forces arrested a “large” number of thieves, and the vehicles will be returned to their rightful owners, according to the security source.
Photos published by SANA of the stolen items showed electrical and household appliances, batteries, motorcycles, and cars.
A leader in the General Security Administration explained that as a result of the destabilization caused by the “acts of the remnants of the fallen regime,” theft operations have significantly increased in several areas along the Syrian coast.
The General Security Administration has directed its forces to restore security in the cities of Jableh, Tartus, Latakia, and surrounding areas, where they have recovered “a large number and significant quantities” of stolen items and have arrested many thieves.
The leader urged residents to report any incidents of theft or assault they experience immediately through known contact numbers or by informing the nearest security point.