Spokesperson Hassan Abdul Ghani made the announcement on Monday, saying in a statement on X that security threats had been neutralised in Latakia and Tartous provinces.

“Having achieved [the neutralisation of the security threats] we announce the end of the military operation,” Ghani added.

“We were able … to absorb the attacks of the remnants of the toppled regime and its officers” and push them from “vital” locations.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reproted on Monday that nearly 1,500 people had been killed in the violence since Thursday.

The majority, the war monitor reported, were civilians killed by security forces and allied groups in the heartland of the Alawite minority, to which deposed President Bashar al-Assad belongs.

Syria’s interim leader President Ahmed al-Sharaa of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) pledged on Sunday to hunt down the perpetrators of the violent clashes and said he would hold to account anyone who overstepped the new rulers’ authority.

Al-Sharaa’s office also noted it was forming an independent committee to investigate the clashes and killings carried out by both sides.

Abdul Ghani added on Monday that the security forces would cooperate with the investigation committee, offering full access to uncover the circumstances of the events, verify the facts and ensure justice for the wronged.

“We were able to absorb the attacks from the remnants of the former regime and its officers. We shattered their element of surprise and managed to push them away from vital centres, securing most of the main roads,” he stated.

“We are paving the way for life to return to normal and for the consolidation of security and stability,” Abdul Ghani said, adding that plans were in place to continue combating the remnants of the former government and eliminate any future threats.

However, following relative calm in the weeks following al-Assad’s fall in December, instability and violence are starting to grow in Syria.

The fighting on the Mediterranean coast began last week when pro-Assad forces coordinated deadly attacks on the new government’s security forces.

The ambush spiralled into revenge killings as thousands of armed supporters of Syria’s new leadership flocked to coastal areas.

The government then sent reinforcements to Latakia and Tartous in order to regain control.

Iran, a long-term al-Assad ally, denied on Monday any involvement in the violence.

Media reports including from the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV channel have suggested that Iran and allied groups in the region were behind the violence.

Al-Sharaa had blamed the violence on “attempts by the remnants of the toppled regime and foreign parties behind them to create renewed sedition and pull our country into civil war”.

Regional media had then followed up by pointing the finger at Tehran.

However, a spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the accusation and condemned attacks on minorities in Syria.

“This accusation is completely ridiculous and rejected, and we think that pointing the finger of accusation at Iran and Iran’s friends is wrongly addressed, a deviant trend, and a hundred percent misleading,” Esmaeil Baghaei said.

“There is no justification for the attacks on parts of the Alawite, Christian, Druze and other minorities, which have truly wounded the emotions and conscience of both the countries of the region and internationally,” he added.

Tehran helped to prop up al-Assad during the country’s long war and provided him with military advisers.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that Tehran has remained “an observer” of the situation in Syria since the takeover by HTS.

“We have no relationship with the current Syrian government, and we are not in a hurry in this regard,” he added.

Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa announced the deal on Monday, saying it was aimed at “ensuring the rights of all Syrians in representation and participation in the political process and all state institutions based on competence, regardless of their religious and ethnic backgrounds.”

The deal will also recognize Syria’s Kurdish community as an integral part of the state, tens of thousands of whom were previously denied citizenship under the decades-long rule of the Assad government.

“We consider this agreement a real opportunity to build a new Syria that embraces all its components and ensures good neighborliness,” SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi said in a statement on X.

The deal is one of the biggest developments in the country since the rebel alliance led by Sharaa toppled former President Bashar al-Assad in December.

By integrating the Kurdish community, it hopes to guard against the possibility of further sectarian strife in the country, which suffered through more than a decade of war before Assad’s downfall.

Crowds gathered across the Syrian cities of Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Tartus, Deir Ezzor and Hasaka to celebrate the agreement. Fireworks lit up the sky over the landmark Aleppo Citadel in the early hours of Tuesday.

The move comes amid the worst violence the country has seen in years as security forces fight supporters of Assad.

The deal between Syria’s interim government and the SDF guarantees the Kurdish-led group’s support to the Syrian state in combatting the Assad remnants and any other threats to the country’s security and unity.

The SDF, which was not part of the rebel alliance that overthrew Assad, is presently the most powerful non-governmental force in the country and holds strategic territories, primarily in the northeast.

Under the new deal, those areas would come under the control of the central government, including border crossings, airports, and oil and gas fields. A ceasefire would go into effect across Syria and displaced Syrians would return to their homes.

Executive committees have been tasked with making sure the agreement is implemented by the end of the year.

While the SDF has been a key US partner in the fight against Daesh, it is largely made up of fighters from a group known as the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), which is considered a terrorist organization by neighboring Turkey.