The News
Violent clashes between Syrian security forces and supporters of deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad killed more than 70 people and wounded dozens overnight Thursday, in an indication of the challenges facing interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa as he seeks to unify the battered country.
Fighting broke out in Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous, traditional strongholds of Assad and the Alawite minority Shiite sect he belongs to, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The government has since imposed curfews in both cities.
The clashes mark the worst violence in Syria since rebels toppled Assad in early December and installed an transitional Islamist government led by former al-Qaeda member al-Sharaa.
SIGNALS
Al-Sharaa struggles to unite Syria’s many factions
The violent outbreak is a crucial test for al-Sharaa, who has dismantled Syria’s security forces, including its army and police, in favour of allied rebel factions. “The self-declared president, a supposedly reformed jihadist, appears to be wrestling with the dilemma of whether to appease his Islamist followers by tightening his grip or to share power with Syria’s many sects and ethnicities,” The Economist wrote. Al-Sharaa, who presides over an all-male, all-Sunni administration, is yet to announce a long-promised unity government. Meanwhile, many members of the former ruling Alawite sect fear reprisals. If “individual fighters or rogue units [aligned with the government] engage in revenge attacks against locals, the situation could spiral into sectarian clashes,” Ibrahim Al-Assil, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told the New York Times.
Easing of sanctions seen as crucial to Syria’s economic recovery
Rebuilding an economy shattered by war and sanctions will be critical for Syria’s new leaders to maintain order, analysts say. “Syrians are watching closely, expecting swift and meaningful action to restore stability and improve livelihoods,” wrote the Atlantic Council. Western governments are starting to roll back their sanctions on Syria, “though the gradual nature of the process may suggest a lingering wariness [over al-Sharaa’s regime],” Bloomberg wrote: Many countries continue to classify al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham group as a terrorist organisation. Human rights groups have urged them to move quicker: The continued enforcement of sanctions brought against the now-collapsed Assad regime is “hindering reconstruction efforts and exacerbating the suffering of millions of Syrians struggling to access critical rights,” Human Rights Watch argued.