Gunmen attacked a position held by Syrian security forces in Damascus overnight, a war monitor said on Monday, raising fears that the deadly violence sweeping Syria’s coastal region could spread to other parts of the country.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has monitored the Syrian conflict since 2011, said that unidentified gunmen threw grenades and opened fire overnight on a building housing government security forces in the highly fortified Mezzeh district of the capital, Damascus. Clashes with government security forces ensued, and it was unclear if anyone was injured, the observatory said. It added that an unspecified number of arrests had been made.
There was no immediate comment from Syria’s new government or on state news media, and the information could not be independently verified.
The attack came as the country was reeling from violence that erupted last week between fighters affiliated with Syria’s new government, led by Ahmed al-Shara, and those loyal to the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Detail
TURKEY
Idlib
SYRIA
Violence erupted along Syria’s coast.
LATAKIA
Latakia
Jableh
Hama
Baniyas
Clashes
SYRIA
TARTUS
Tartus
Homs
15 Miles
LEBANON
Gunmen attacked a government position in the capital.
Damascus
ijogoIdlib
Violence erupted along Syria’s coast.
LATAKIA
Detail
Latakia
SYRIA
Jableh
Hama
Baniyas
Clashes
SYRIA
TARTUS
Tartus
Homs
Mediterranean
Sea
Palmyra
Tripoli
LEBANON
More than a third of those who became ill required hospitalization, suffering symptoms ranging from vomiting to loss of consciousness, seizures and hallucinations.
15 Miles
Beirut
Gunmen attacked a government position in the capital.
Damascus
Source: Institute for the Study of War with American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project
By Samuel Granados
More than 1,300 people have been killed since the fighting began, largely in the coastal Latakia and Tartus Provinces, the heartland of Syria’s Alawite minority, according to the observatory. It said on Monday that about 1,000 civilians were included in that figure, most of whom were killed by armed forces affiliated with or loyal to the new government. The information could not be independently verified.
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