Sharaa blamed pro-Assad groups backed by foreigners for triggering the bloodshed but acknowledged that revenge killings had followed.

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has said that he will punish “even among those closest” to him for participating in mass killings in the country’s coastal region days ago.

Syria’s leader vows to hunt those behind clashes with Assad loyalists and his Islamist government:: March 9, 2025:: Damascus, Syria:: Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syrian Interim President"We find ourselves facing a new danger represented by the attempts of the remnants of the former regime and the external parties behind them to create a new sedition and drag our country into a civil war,