Syria's new interim government has announced the end of a multi-day military operation against supporters of ousted President Bashar al-Assad in the western regions of Latakia and Tartus, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing Euronews.

The surge in violence followed an attack by militants from the Alawite community, the Shiite minority to which Assad's family belongs, on a police patrol near the port city of Latakia, sparking fighting across Syria's coastal region.

Monitoring groups have said that the death toll from the clashes exceeds a thousand of people, according to conservative estimates.

New Syrian government in Damascus has struggled to establish authority across the country and reach political agreements with other communities, such as the Kurds in the northeast and the Druze in the south.

"To the remnants of the defeated regime and its officers who fled, we say loud and clear: if you return, we will return too, and you will face people who do not know how to retreat and who will not spare those whose hands are stained with the blood of innocents," said Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Hassan Abdel-Ghani.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) claimed that more than 300 civilians from the Alawite minority had been killed in the region, a figure that was later raised to 1,130, including 830 civilians.

No official figures have been released.

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa described the attacks on Alawite civilians and the abuse of prisoners as isolated incidents, promising to bring those responsible to justice. He also announced the establishment of a committee to investigate the events.

The European Commission said it was concerned by the news from Syria and condemned the killings.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on the Syrian government to "bring to justice those responsible for these massacres."