Members of the Syrian Civil Defense group, the White Helmets, and other volunteers hold a Syrian opposition flag during a gathering to announce the start of reparation campaign in Aleppo, Syria, on Wednesday Photo by Bilal al Hammoud/EPA-EFE
Dec. 26 (UPI) — An ambush in Syria by suspected loyalists to deposed President Bashar al-Assad killed as many as 20 members of Syria’s new security force in the west of the country Thursday, officials said.
The security forces, consisting mostly of former opposition rebels, had been fighting with remaining Assad supporters in western Syria, trying to take into custody former government officials.
Mohammed Abel Rahman, the interior minister for the new government, promised that the new leaders would crack down on those seeking the undermine them. The country is under the control of the al Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which chased Assad out of the country in early December.
Officials reported that Syrian forces attempted to apprehend a former Assad officer with ties to the infamous Saidnaya prison near the capital Damascus when they were attacked.
A conflict ensued when locals in a Tartus province village refused to allow the security forces to conduct house-to-house searches.
HTS, which is looking for enough support to overturn global sanctions, has promised that it would allow freedom for religious and ethnic minorities in the country. It has long been designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Britain.
The burning of a Christmas tree in the Christian-majority town of Suqaylabiyah in central Syria renewed worries that the new government would not protect those freedoms and sparked demonstrations.
