Security deployed in Syria’s Latakia after groups enter Alawite neighborhoods

Shafaq News– Damascus

On Monday, groups allegedly affiliated with the government stormed several Alawite-inhabited neighborhoods in Syria’s coastal city of Latakia, prompting the deployment of internal security forces.

Local outlets said the groups entered residential districts chanting sectarian slogans and vandalizing property. Shopfronts were smashed in the Al-Ziraa neighborhood, while windows of vehicles were broken in other Alawite areas, the reports added.

Syrian state media later said internal security patrols had been deployed across main streets in Latakia to restore order and counter what it described as attempts to create chaos.

Sheikh Ghazal Ghazal, head of the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council, warned against being drawn into civil conflict, calling it “the most dangerous trap” facing Syrians.

Latakia, a Mediterranean port city with a large Alawite population, has seen heightened tensions in recent months amid a fragile security situation in Syria’s coastal regions following last year’s political transition.