ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Clashes erupted in Syria's coastal Alawite stronghold of Latakia province on Wednesday as government forces engaged in skirmishes with supposed loyalists of the deposed regime of Bashar al-Assad, leaving at least three people dead.

"Three members of remnants of the former regime were killed after clashes with internal security forces on the outskirts of the city of Jableh," Syrian state television reported.

SANA, Syria's state media outlet, had earlier reported that security forces were engaging "a group of wanted outlaws" in the province's countryside.

With a majority of its residents belonging to the Alawite religious sect, the belief system of the former ruling Assad clan, Latakia province has proved a hotspot of resistance by loyalists to the deposed regime.

In March, violent clashes broke out between Syrian security forces and pro-Assad factions along the western coast of Syria, killing at least 1,400 people, most of whom were Alawite civilians.

The United Kingdom on Friday imposed sanctions on several individuals and organizations accused of committing violence against Syrian civilians, including Turkey-backed armed groups and commanders linked to the March massacres.

Syria has fallen into sectarian conflict on several occasions since Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebels propelled Ahmed al-Sharaa to power in December 2024, with the new authorities in Damascus having been repeatedly criticized for failing to protect minorities.

The centralizing tendencies of the new government have prompted fears of a chauvinistic, Sunni-dominated government among Syria's diverse tapestry of ethnic and religious minorities, with clashes between state forces and Alawites in the west, Druze in the south, and Kurds in the northeast have sporadically erupted.

Tensions surged in Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh on Monday after clashes broke out between Damascus-affiliated and Kurdish-led forces, with both sides trading blame for the altercations. 

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said one woman was killed in the attacks, while Syrian state media reported four deaths.

In an exclusive interview with The New Region on Wednesday, Baqi Hamza, a member of the Syrian Democratic Council's (SDC) foreign and general relations committees, said that "the problems should be solved through dialogue in general in Syria, not only for north and east Syria [Rojava], for the sake of democracy, decentralization, and the participation of all components in building a new Syria."