BEIRUT, December 26. /TASS/. The department of military operations of Syria’s transitional government announced that a curfew was introduced from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. local time (5:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. GMT) in the city of Latakia and its suburb of Jableh after members of the country’s Alawite religious minority took to the streets, the Janoubia news portal said.
Previously, a curfew was imposed in another large Syrian city, Homs, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. local time (3:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. GMT), following reports of violent riots and attacks on police officers. At least one person was killed and an unknown number of others seriously wounded in the unrest.
The transitional government’s Information Minister Mohammad Yaqoub al-Omar said the unrest was triggered by a video, which began circulating on social networks earlier in the day and showed an important Alawite shrine being set ablaze.
In al-Omar’s opinion "armed supporters of the former regime, operating on Syria’s coast and in Homs, tried to make use of these rumors and staged attacks on security forces."
"Their goal was to sow discord among the people of Syria and trigger popular unrest during this highly sensitive period in the country’s history," the minister added.
The Syrian interior ministry, in turn, reported that a special operation was under way in Latakia, Tartus and Homs, "to crack down on supporters of the former regime, who had fired at civilians and law enforcers."
Alawites are a religious minority comprising roughly 12% of Syria’s population, or three million people. They reside mostly in northwestern coastal regions in Syria’s Latakia and Tartus provinces, although Alawite-populated districts can be found in other cities as well.