Syrian Rebel Government Hunts for Senior Assad Official, Prompting Deadly Clashes

Syria’s new government is searching for a senior official from the Assad dictatorship and for military forces loyal to the ousted president.

Security forces for Syria’s new government were pursuing at least one senior official and military forces loyal to the former dictatorship on Thursday, as they struggled to tamp down unrest in a number of regions and stabilize the country.

Government forces have been searching for Mohammed Kanjou al-Hassan, a former official in charge of military justice under the ousted president, Bashar al-Assad, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitoring group.

In 2023, Britain imposed sanctions on Mr. al-Hassan for “his involvement in repressing the civilian population in Syria,” according to an official record that listed targets of British sanctions. Mr. al-Hassan was responsible for crimes at Syria’s notorious Sednaya prison, according to the Syrian Observatory.

An attempt to arrest Mr. al-Hassan on Wednesday set off deadly clashes in the western region around the port of Tartus — part of the heartland of Mr. al-Assad’s Alawite minority. Government security forces were ambushed by loyalists of the former government in the area, according to the Syrian Observatory.

Fourteen members of the government forces were killed, according to Mohammed Abdel Rahman, Syria’s interim interior minister.

The hunt for Mr. al-Hassan suggested that Syria’s new leaders were stepping up their efforts to pursue top members of the Assad dictatorship amid a clamor in the country for justice and accountability.

A central challenge for Syria’s new administration is to impose law and order while it attempts to hold members of the Assad regime accountable and build a system of governance.

The government forces deployed on Thursday in Mr. al-Hassan’s hometown near Tartus on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. Sana, the state-run Syrian news agency, said the forces were sent to the area to pursue “remnants of Assad militias, protect civilians and restore security and stability.”

The new government has been facing unrest cropping up in a number of regions.

During the past week, members of the minority Alawite sect have protested in cities like Latakia in the west and Homs in central Syria. A video posted online of an Alawite shrine set alight appeared to play a role in setting off the protests, but officials in the transitional government have said it was old and republished on Wednesday.

Protests also broke out this week in the capital, Damascus, after the burning of a Christmas tree, which heightened concerns about sectarian strife after the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the overthrow of the old government, rose to power.

The rise of Islamists in Syria has led to some fears of persecution among the country’s many minority communities, including Christians, Druse and Alawites.

Ahmad al-Shara, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has promised that minorities will be protected.

On Thursday, the interim ministry of information said it was banning the publication of content with “a sectarian character that seeks to spread division.”