DAMASCUS (AFP) – Syrian security forces are conducting a security sweep in the city of Homs, state media reported yesterday, with a monitor saying targets include protest organisers from the Alawite minority of the former president.
“The Ministry of Interior, in cooperation with the Military Operations Department, begins a wide-scale combing operation in the neighbourhoods of Homs city,” state news agency SANA said quoting a security official.
The statement said the targets were “war criminals and those involved in crimes who refused to hand over their weapons and go to the settlement centres” but also “fugitives from justice, in addition to hidden ammunition and weapons”.
Since the rebels seized power in a lightning offensive last month, the transitional government has been registering former conscripts and soldiers and asking them to hand over their weapons.
“The Ministry of Interior calls on the residents of the neighbourhoods of Wadi al-Dhahab, Akrama not to go out to the streets, remain home, and fully cooperate with our forces,” the statement said.
Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, told AFP the two districts are majority-Alawite – the community from which ousted President Bashar al-Assad hails.
