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Syria Says 14 Security Personnel Killed in Ambush by Assad Loyalists
Source: BBC
Syria's new rebel-led authorities say supporters of ousted President Bashar al-Assad have killed 14 interior ministry troops in an "ambush" in the west of the country.
They say ten other troops were wounded in the fighting on Tuesday near the Mediterranean port of Tartous, a stronghold of Assad's minority Alawite Muslim sect.
Reports say the security forces were ambushed as they tried to arrest a former officer in connection to his role at the notorious Saydnaya prison, close to the capital, Damascus.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0ew5g3vzreo
Per CIA: The Syrian population is 23,865,423. Ethnicities: Arab ~50%, Alawite ~15%, Kurd ~10%, Levantine ~10%, other ~15% (includes Druze, Ismaili, Imami, Nusairi, Assyrian, Turkoman, Armenian)
The 15% Alawite minority is afraid of reprisals by the Sunni majority. Some Alawites have been blamed for torture under the Assad regime, so some officers are not surrendering their weapons. This bit of dead-ender resistance, lethal as it was, will not return the Despot of Damascus to power.