TRANSCRIPT
Syria's interim government has announced the end of a special military operation targeting insurgents loyal to ousted president Bashar Al-Asaad.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is warning that the mass killings of members of al-Assad’s minority Alawite sect, threatened efforts to unite the country.
President Al-Sharaa vowed to punish those responsible, including his own allies.
In his first global news interview, following four days of deadly clashes between Alawites and Syria’s new Sunni Islamist authorities, President Al-Sharaa blamed pro-Al-Assad groups for sparking the violence, but admitted revenge killings by his soldiers had occurred.
“Syria is, as we have confirmed, a state of law. The law will take its course on all. And we originally fought the regime and reached Damascus to defend the oppressed people, and we won't accept that any blood be shed unjustly, or goes without punishment or accountability, whoever he is, even if he were among those closest to us or the most distant from us, there is no difference in this matter. Violating people’s sanctity, violating their religion, violating their money, this is a red line in Syria. This is not only a constitutional law, but it is also a moral law.”
Mr Al-Sharaa blames the violence on a former military unit loyal to Bashar al-Assad’s brother, Maher, and an unspecified foreign power, but admitted it became an outlet for long-held grievances, leading to widespread violations.
“Some of the members of the former regime and those who were participating with the regime in the big massacres that it was carrying out, headed by the Fourth Division with its regional affiliation that you all know, carried out a major military attack in the coastal region, which led to the killing of a large number of security forces and some civilians, even some civilians from the same Alawite sect who were opposing this group carrying out these actions.”
He says the situation is now largely contained and reported 200 security personnel killed, though he withheld the overall death toll pending an independent investigation.
“With the killing of a large number of security forces, by dozens and the number exceeding 200 people, many, I mean some parties, I say there is almost a regional and international consensus on the stability of the situation in Syria, but there are some parties that lost from the new reality in Syria and are trying to restore themselves and they have nothing but this cheap commodity that raises sectarianism.”
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated that, as of Sunday night, 973 Alawite civilians had been killed in revenge attacks, along with over 250 Alawite fighters and 230 security personnel.
The United Nations has called for the bloodshed to stop, and for those responsible, to be held accountable.
Stephan Dujarric is the spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
“The Secretary-General is alarmed by the violent escalation in the coastal areas of Syria that has seen widespread summary killings, including of entire families, and the loss of at least of one of our colleagues from UNRWA. He expresses his sincere condolences to Syrians mourning the loss of loved ones and wishes a speedy recovery for the injured.”
On Monday life in Latakia began to return to normal.
People waited in lengthy lines in front of bakeries to get their bread, with one resident saying the amount of food available is insufficient.
"We are thirteen people at home, they gave us two bundles of bread. If we make a sandwich for each child, they would only take one sandwich per day. What is this life? Look at all these people. I swear it is painful.”
Security forces could still be seen in the streets, along with parked vehicles which had been damaged during the deadly clashes.
Thousands of Syrians from the country’s coastal region had fled to Lebanon, mostly through unofficial crossings.
The UN refugee agency cited local authorities reporting 6,078 arrivals in a dozen villages in northern Lebanon’s Akkar province, with numbers in other areas still being verified.
Saudi channel Al-Arabiya aired footage of people crossing the Al-Kabir River into Lebanon.
Among them is this man who did not give his name.
“Today we are displaced from the Syrian coastal region without food. We thank the Lebanese state, our Lebanese brothers and society for their help, but they cannot afford such huge number of refugees.”
Lebanon hosts over 755,000 registered Syrian refugees, with hundreds more arriving.
Meanwhile, the Syria Presidency says it has signed a deal with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, to integrate the group into state institutions.
Images released showed Syrian interim President and SDF leader Mazloum Abdi signing the agreement.
The agreement emphasised Syria’s unity and stipulated that all civil and military institutions in northeastern Syria be merged into the administration of the Syrian state, including border crossings, the airport, and oil and gas fields.
The U-S-backed SDF has controlled a semi-autonomous region in northeastern Syria since 2015.
If implemented, the deal would bring the area under full government control.
