ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Turkey and Saudi Arabia on Friday threw their support behind the new government of Damascus, as Syria is plagued by deadly clashes between security forces and Assad loyalists in the country's western regions.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli warned against "provocations" in Syria's Latakia province, where clashes since Thursday have killed at least 70 people, a conflict seen as some of the worst violence since Bashar al-Assad's ouster.

"Such provocations must not be allowed to become a threat to the peace of Syria and our region,” Keceli wrote on X.

Keceli went on to say that “an intensive effort is being exerted to establish security and stability in Syria. The tension experienced in and around Latakia at such a critical time, and the targeting of security forces could harm efforts to carry Syria into the future with unity.”

Syria's new authorities extended curfews in areas where clashes broke out and launched large-scale security operations to pursue fighters loyal to Assad on Friday.

Saudi Arabia also condemned the escalations, describing the attacks on the security forces as"crimes" by "outlaw groups."

"The Foreign Ministry expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's condemnation of the crimes committed by outlaw groups in the Syrian Arab Republic and the targeting of security forces,” read a statement by the ministry.

The deadly Thursday clashes occurred in the western coastal cities of Jableh, Latakia - the heartland of Assad's Alawite minority.

The fierce clashes were "the most violent attacks against the new authorities" since Assad was ousted in December in a lightning offensive that took less than two weeks, said the war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The SOHR reported on Friday that security forces killed 52 members of the Alawite community in Latakia province.

"Security forces executed 52 Alawite men in the towns of Al-Shirand Al-Mukhtariya in the Latakia countryside" SOHR reported, citing testimonies from victims' relatives. 

Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria on Friday blamed the new Damascus administration for the clashes.

“The reason for the clashes is a misinterpretation of Syria’s reality by the new authorities in Damascus,” the Democratic Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (DAANES) said in a statement, warning of severe consequences of the sharp escalations.