Syrian government forces clashed with “remnants” of the ousted regime Bashar al-Assad, thrusting the Middle East nation’s new leaders into the biggest crisis since seizing power in December.
The government said at least 13 members of the security forces were killed in the clashes in the Jableh region along the coast.
A regional official said many of the security forces had been attacked in what he called a well-planned ambush by "remnants of the Assad militias."
SEE ALSO: Syria's New Government Leaves Russia's Navy AdriftThe U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an influential monitoring group, said the ambush in the town of Jableh, near the city of Latakia, killed at least 16 security personnel and four civilians.
The Observatory said dozens of fighters loyal to Assad were killed or wounded in the clashes, although the figures could not immediately be confirmed.
"More than 70 killed and dozens wounded and captured in bloody clashes and ambushes on the Syrian coast between members of the Ministry of Defense and Interior and militants from the defunct regime's army," the Observatory wrote on X.
Rami Abdurrahman, head of the monitoring group, said the gunmen who ambushed the police force are Alawites. He called the battles “the worst clashes since the fall of the regime.”
Assad-aligned militias have often targeted security patrols and checkpoints in the Jableh region, said Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Kunaifati, the provincial chief of security.
Alawite activists, meanwhile, claim their community has been subjected to violence and attacks since the fall of the Assad government.
Tensions have risen between Iran-backed Assad’s minority Alawite sect and members of the new government, which seized power after an offensive of insurgent groups led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Syria's new authorities have labeled the attacks "isolated incidents" and vowed to arrest those responsible.
"Our forces in the city of Jableh managed to arrest the criminal General Ibrahim Huweija," state-run SANA news agency reported. Al Arabiya also reported the capture.
"He is accused of hundreds of assassinations during the era of the criminal Hafez al-Assad," the authoritarian leader who ruled the brutal Syrian regime before his son, Bashar al-Assad, took over upon his death.
Huweija was chief of Syria’s air force intelligence from 1987-2002 and was suspect of conducting the 1977 murder of Lebanese Druze leader Kamal Bek Jumblatt.
Jumblatt son and successor, Walid Jumblatt, reposted the news of his arrest on X, adding the comment: "Allahu Akbar [God is Greatest]."
The new Syrian government continues to struggle in efforts to stabilize the war-torn nation after a 13-year civil war that killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions, many of whom fled to Turkey and on to some European countries.
SEE ALSO: Eyeing Regional Powers, Syria Is Freezing Iran OutWestern nations have begun to consider lifting sanctions put in place to isolate the Assad regime, although they are moving cautiously as they await steps toward increased democracy and human rights by the new leaders.
On March 6, Britain unfroze the assets of Syria's central bank and 23 other entities -- including banks, oil companies, and other “entities that were previously used by the Assad regime to fund the oppression of the Syrian people," the Foreign Office said.
Last month, the European Union eased restrictions on the Syrian central bank while keeping in place sanctions. Washington has kept sanctions on the central bank in place.