Skirmish in Syrian Capital Raises Fears of Expanding Violence

Last updated: March 10, 2025 1:56 pm

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The overnight clash in Damascus appeared to have been contained, but it has heightened concerns that the violence sweeping the country’s coastal region could spread.

Members of the Syrian government’s security forces in the capital, Damascus, on Thursday. Credit… Omar Sanadiki/Associated Press March 10, 2025

Gunmen attacked a position held by Syrian security forces in Damascus overnight, a war monitor said on Monday, raising fears that the deadly violence sweeping Syria’s coastal region could spread to other parts of the country.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has monitored the Syrian conflict since 2011, said that unidentified gunmen threw grenades and opened fire overnight on a building housing government security forces in the highly fortified Mezzeh district of the capital, Damascus. Clashes with government security forces ensued, and it was unclear if anyone was injured, the observatory said. It added that an unspecified number of arrests had been made.

There was no immediate comment from Syria’s new government or on state news media, and the information could not be independently verified.

The attack came as the country was reeling from violence that erupted last week between fighters affiliated with Syria’s new government, led by Ahmed al-Shara, and those loyal to the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad.

More than 1,300 people have been killed since the fighting began, largely in the coastal Latakia and Tartus Provinces, the heartland of Syria’s Alawite minority, according to the observatory. It said on Monday that about 1,000 civilians were included in that figure, most of whom were killed by armed forces affiliated with or loyal to the new government. The information could not be independently verified.

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