Syria's new rulers warn against incitement as tensions brew

Syria's new authorities on Thursday launched a security crackdown in a coastal region where 14 policemen were killed a day before, vowing to pursue "remnants" of the ousted Bashar al-Assad government accused of the attack, state media reported.

The violence in Tartous province, part of the coastal region that is home to many members of Assad's Alawite sect, has marked the deadliest challenge yet to the authorities which swept him from power on Dec. 8.

Members of the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, wielded huge sway in Assad-led Syria, dominating security forces he used against his opponents during the 13-year-long civil war, and to crush dissent during decades of bloody oppression by his police state.

The security forces launched the Tartous operation to "control security, stability, and civil peace, and to pursue the remnants of Assad's militias in the woods and hills", state news agency SANA reported.

The crackdown was announced as the Damascus authorities warned of an attempt to incite sectarian strife, after a video dating from late November circulated on social media showing a fire inside an Alawite shrine in Aleppo. The interior ministry said unknown groups perpetrated the violence and that its forces were working "night and day" to protect religious sites.

Mohammed Othman, the newly appointed governor of the coastal Latakia region adjoining Tartous, met Alawite sheikhs to "encourage community cohesion and civil peace", SANA reported.

The Syrian information ministry declared a ban on what it described as "the circulation or publication of any media content or news with a sectarian tone aimed at spreading division".

Syria's newly appointed foreign minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, said on Tuesday that Iran must respect the will of the Syrian people and Syria's sovereignty and security.

"We warn them against spreading chaos in Syria and we hold them accountable for the repercussions of the latest remarks," he said.