Damascus (AFP) – Syria’s new authorities launched a sweeping security operation Friday after clashes with fighters loyal to former president Bashar al-Assad, the biggest challenge to their rule so far, left at least 71 people dead.

A curfew was imposed in the coastal province of Latakia, the Assad clan’s former stronghold and home to a sizeable Alawite community, the same religious minority as the former president.

Security forces began what official news agency SANA described as a “large-scale” operation in cities, towns and the mountains of Latakia and neighbouring Tartus, following the arrival of reinforcements.

The operation “targeted remnants of Assad’s militias and those who supported them”, a security official cited by SANA said, as he called on civilians to “stay in their homes”.

The defence ministry said it had sent reinforcements to the cities of Latakia and Tartus.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights’ latest toll, the clashes killed 71 people over the past day, among them 35 members of the security forces, 32 gunmen and four civilians.

The Observatory, a Britain-based monitor, also reported dozens of people wounded and others taken prisoner by both sides.

The authorities also imposed curfews in Homs and Tartus.

Mustafa Kneifati, a security official in Latakia, said that in “a well-planned and premeditated attack, several groups of Assad militia remnants attacked our positions and checkpoints, targeting many of our patrols in the Jableh area.”

Kneifati said security forces would “work to eliminate their presence”.

“We will restore stability to the region and protect the property of our people,” he said.

SANA said meanwhile that security forces had detained Ibrahim Huweija, a general who was “accused of hundreds of assassinations” under the rule of Assad’s father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad.

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