Syria launches security operation against former regime forces in Assad family hometown

By Ethem Emre Ozcan

LATAKIA, Syria (AA) – Syria’s Military Operations Command on Saturday launched a security operation in Qardaha, the hometown of the recently ousted ruling Assad family, in the coastal province of Latakia.

According to the Syrian news agency SANA, a large number of security forces took part in the operation, which came in response to repeated attacks by former regime elements in Latakia who had refused to surrender their weapons.

Sources in the command told Anadolu that helicopters were also used in the operation.

Several former regime elements were captured, according to security officials.

Qardaha, once a stronghold of the ousted Baath regime, has remained a focal point of tensions since the regime’s fall.

Following the collapse of the Baath regime on Dec. 8, Syria’s new administration, which had issued a general amnesty, opened reconciliation centers across several provinces. It urged former regime members to surrender their weapons by a specified deadline.

Similar operations were carried out in the capital Damascus and the Tartus and Homs provinces targeting those who refused to participate in the reconciliation process and disarm.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel