Syrian authorities crack down on ‘remnants’ of Bashar al-Assad’s rule

Push comes as Syria’s new de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa met Bahraini, Libyan delegations in Damascus.

Syria’s new administration is carrying out a security crackdown against what it has described as “remnants” of former President Bashar al-Assad’s rule, with operations under way in several parts of the country.

The official Syrian news agency SANA reported on Saturday that authorities were conducting “a large-scale sweep operation” near the city of Latakia on Syria’s northwestern coast.

The push — in an area where al-Assad enjoyed support from the Alawite community — came in response to “reports about [the] presence of elements linked to remnants of Assad’s militias”, SANA said in a post shared on social media.

Reporting from the capital Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra explained that the new administration said it is not targeting the Alawite community, from which al-Assad hailed.

Instead, the authorities said the security operation has focused on soldiers and Syrian army officials associated with al-Assad and his brother, Maher al-Assad, a powerful former military commander.