Forces loyal to Assad kill 14 soldiers from the new Syrian government

At least 14 soldiers from Syria’s new government were killed in the west of the country in an ambush carried out by forces loyal to deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad this Thursday (26).

According to information from CNN, the Ministry of the Interior reported that the attack took place in the Tartus region and also injured ten other soldiers.

Syria’s military operations command said additional forces had been deployed in the region “to establish security and hold accountable the remnants of the former regime who are trying to destabilize security and terrorize the population in some areas of the Syrian coast.”

On the 8th, the Syrian rebels entered Damascus, after a lightning offensive lasting less than two weeks, and took power. Dictator Bashar al-Assad, who had been waging war with opposition forces since 2011, fled to ally Russia.

The death of soldiers in Tartus indicates that Syria’s new government, which faces international skepticism over its promises to protect religious minorities and human rights, still has a long way to go in pacifying the country.

On Sunday (22), Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohamed al-Golani, said during a meeting in Damascus with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan that all weapons in the country must be handed over to the new government, including those maintained by pro-Assad forces and the Kurds of the Syrian Democratic Forces, who dominate large areas of the north and east of the country, and that all factions must be dissolved and their members be incorporated into the Syrian army.