Syria faces twin battles as Assad loyalists and ISIL attack in west, east 

Clashes between Syrian internal security forces and a militia linked to the ousted government of Bashar al-Assad have left at least four people dead in the Alawite-majority coastal province of Latakia, marking a significant escalation in the new government’s fight to stabilise a nation emerging from years of ruinous civil war.

The fighting erupted on Tuesday west of the village of Hamam al-Qarahleh in the countryside of Jableh. Security forces were responding to reports that members of “Saraya al-Jawad” (al-Jawad Brigades), a shadowy armed group linked to regime remnants, had launched an attack on security positions.

According to the official Al-Ikhbariya TV channel, the confrontation killed at least one member of the Internal Security Forces. Security units managed to “neutralise” a top commander of the militia along with two of his associates, bringing the death toll to at least four.

The ‘Tiger’s’ shadow

The emergence of Saraya al-Jawad represents a shift from disorganised loyalist resistance to an organised rebellion in the coastal heartland, traditionally the stronghold of the al-Assad family.

Formed in August 2025, the militia is reportedly loyal to Suheil al-Hassan, the brigadier-general who commanded the notorious Quwwat al-Nimr (Tiger Forces), an elite unit in the former regime’s army.

The Ministry of Interior accuses the group of carrying out a campaign of destabilisation, including “assassinations, bombings, and targeting public celebrations”. The crackdown in Latakia comes as the transitional government, which took power after the regime’s collapse in December 2024, attempts to dismantle “deep state” armed cells.

Battles on two fronts

The violence in the west coincided with a resurgence of attacks in the east earlier in the week, undermining the country’s fragile stability.

On Tuesday, ISIL (ISIS) claimed responsibility for a series of attacks carried out on Monday on security outposts in Deir Az Zor province.

• Al-Mayadin: A soldier was killed in an ambush on the city’s outskirts.
• Al-Sabahiyah: Two consecutive attacks on a security checkpoint left four security personnel dead.

Interior Minister Anas Khattab linked the two fronts in a statement on X, accusing “remnants of the previous regime and ISIL” of attempting to “tamper with the country’s security and target its successes”.

‘Suspicious timing’

Analysts suggest the simultaneous flare-ups on the coast and in the east are likely not a coincidence.

Brigadier General Munir al-Hariri, a strategic security expert based in Amman, told Al Jazeera Mubasher that the resurgence of these groups is “suspicious”, hinting at external manipulation.

“There is something suspicious in this story,” al-Hariri said. He argued that external actors who lost influence in Syria – specifically pointing to Iran – may be mobilising “dormant cells” within the former regime’s intelligence apparatus and even facilitating ISIL activity to portray the new Syrian state as “weak and incapable of controlling security”.

“The middle ranks of the [old] regime’s intelligence had deep ties with these groups,” al-Hariri added, suggesting a historical “exchange of roles” between regime loyalists and hardliners to create chaos.

The security vacuum

However, Bassam al-Suleiman, a political researcher based in Damascus, attributes the spike in violence to the natural friction of a power transition and the withdrawal of international forces.

“The organisation [ISIL] is exploiting the state of security imbalance resulting from the change in control and the withdrawal of US forces,” al-Suleiman told Al Jazeera Mubasher.

He warned that the vast Syrian Badia (desert) – which constitutes nearly 40 percent of the country’s territory – risks becoming a safe haven for regrouping militants if the government does not act on a swift “crisis cell” approach.

“The fear today is that the security vacuum in this desert will be exploited and turned into training camps,” al-Suleiman said, calling for the government to engage Arab tribes in Deir Az Zor as a “support force” against the rebellion.