According to the London-based conflict monitor Syrian Human Rights Observatory (SOHR), the clashes broke out when security forces tried to arrest a former officer loyal to the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad.
14 of the dead belonged to security forces from Syria's new authority, according to SOHR. In a statement from the newly appointed interior minister Mohammed Abdel Rahman, the forces were subjected to a "treacherous ambush by the criminal regime's remnants while performing their duties."
According to SOHR, the wanted officer was a former head of the notorious Saydnaya prison and responsible for issuing death sentences against thousands of prisoners.
The clashes in Tartus – a region where many members of Assad's Alawite minority live – broke out when residents refused to let their homes be searched by security forces.
According to SOHR, the officer's brother, along with armed men, set up an ambush and attacked the forces.
Saydnaya prison, described by Amnesty International as a "human slaughterhouse", has become a symbol of dictator Bashar al-Assad's brutal rule. Tens of thousands of political prisoners are said to have been executed in extrajudicial mass hangings, and thousands more are believed to have died due to starvation, torture, and lack of care.
After the fall of the Assad regime, thousands of prisoners were released from the prison.
