"They traded in our blood".. Rami Makhlouf holds one of Assad's officers responsible for the events on the coast

Rami Makhlouf, the cousin of the ousted regime president Bashar al-Assad, held Ghiath Dala, one of the generals affiliated with the commander of the Fourth Division Maher al-Assad, responsible for the events that took place on the Syrian coast in recent days.

In a post on his personal Facebook account on Sunday, Makhlouf claimed that many civilian casualties had occurred on the coast during operations carried out by the Syrian General Security, accusing Dala of causing the events to ignite.

Makhlouf addressed Dala, saying, "What did you do to our people? Did you trade in the blood of our people?! Didn't you expect, after what you did to the security forces, that the reaction would be so violent? Why did you involve these poor civilians with you and exploit their need for money?"

He added that Dala and the remnants of the ousted regime around him took the money and "made our people pay the price in blood, humiliation and hunger."

Makhlouf also criticized Assad, describing him as a "fugitive president."

Addressing Assad, he asked: "Wasn't what you did previously satisfied yourself by destroying the country, dividing it, destroying its army and economy, and starving its people? On top of all that, you fled with money that, if distributed among the people, there would be no hungry or poor person."

He continued, "Today, your entourage came with this stupid move to eliminate what remains of the sect that sacrificed the most precious of its youth so that the state would not fall."

"The blood of these innocent young men who fell" is the responsibility of Bashar al-Assad, Makhlouf said.

In recent days, the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous have witnessed security tensions due to coordinated attacks by remnants of the Assad regime, the most violent since its fall, against security patrols, checkpoints and hospitals, which resulted in deaths and injuries.

Following this, the security forces and the army were mobilized and carried out combing and hunting operations for the remnants, which included violent clashes, amid government assurances that the situation was heading towards complete stability.

At least 50 security personnel were killed during the operation, while news and video clips spread on some international media outlets and social networking sites of armed groups targeting many civilians in the region.

On Sunday, the Syrian presidency issued a decision to form an independent national committee to investigate and find the facts about the events on the coast.

After the fall of the Assad regime on December 8, 2024, the new Syrian authorities launched an initiative to settle the status of members of the former regime, from the army and security services, on condition that they surrender their weapons and not have blood on their hands.

Thousands responded to this initiative, while some armed groups from the remnants of the regime rejected it, especially on the Syrian coast where senior officers of the Assad regime were stationed.

Over time, these groups chose to flee to the mountainous areas, and began to stir up tensions, destabilize and launch sporadic attacks against government forces over the past weeks.

Source: Anadolu Agency