Latakia province is a former stronghold of the government of ousted president Bashar al-Assad and the heartland of his family’s Alawite minority.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the operation in the city’s Daatur district killed “four civilians”, including two “guards at a local school” yesterday and two construction workers today.

State media said that forces launched the campaign after “militia remnants” supporting Assad killed two personnel in an ambush.

Mustafa Kneifati, a security official in Latakia province, said that “during the operation, the criminal cell threw bombs at the security patrols, wounding a number of personnel”.

“Our forces responded immediately to the sources of fire and managed to arrest a number of people involved in these criminal acts, and neutralised a number of others,” Kneifati added in a statement on the interior ministry’s Telegram channel.

The observatory said “a cautious calm” returned to Daatur “after the arrest of a number of residents and wanted persons”.

Restoring and maintaining security across Syria remains one of the most pressing challenges for the new authorities after Islamist-led rebels overthrew Assad on Dec 8.

Latakia initially saw heightened tensions and violence, including reprisals against people seen as linked to the former government, though incidents have decreased somewhat despite occasional attacks on checkpoints, according to the observatory.