DUBAI, March 7. /TASS/. The domestic security authority in Syria’s Latakia province has imposed a curfew until 10:00 a.m. local time (7:00 a.m. GMT) Friday amid clashes between law enforcement units and supporters of the country’s former President Bashar Assad, the state-run SANA news agency reported.
The Syrian armed forces, controlled by the transitional government, have sent reinforcements from the capital Damascus to Latakia amid the unrest, the Al Hadath television reported.
Syria TV reported earlier in the day that the situation was particularly tense in certain districts of the region’s eponymous administrative center. Heavy gunfire was reported in the Al-Ziraa neighborhood and near the criminal police department, where blasts were also heard. According to the report, riot police have already repelled the attack.
On Thursday night, a group of Assad’s supporters attacked a roadblock near the city of Jableh, home to Russia’s Hmeymim air base. According to Al Jazeera, at least 15 Syrian security officers were killed as a result.
The SANA news agency, in turn, reported that armed groups supporting the former president also attacked military sites in the town of Beit Ana in Latakia’s south. As a result, one security officer was killed, and several were wounded.
Late on Thursday, a curfew was imposed in the cities of Tartus and Homs.