BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s Interior Minister says the state will deal strongly and “decisively” with armed attacks on security forces.
Ibrahim Shaar says “we will not be silent” about attacks against the state, comments that appeared to be a prelude to an even stronger government crackdown against a popular uprising that began in mid-March.
He spoke in a terse statement broadcast on Syrian state television Monday after government reports that 80 policemen and security forces were killed in an ambush and confrontations with armed men in a tense northern town.
The reports said the armed groups in Jisr al-Shughour attacked a security post and set fire to government buildings.
