Syria’s interim government has announced the end of a days-long military operation against insurgents loyal to ousted president Bashar Assad and his family in the worst fighting since the end of the 1

Clashes between Assad loyalists and the country's new Islamist rulers in the former president's coastal heartland have killed more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, according to a war monitoring group.

Activists gathered in central Damascus to condemn the killing of Syrian public security personnel and civilians in ongoing violence on the Syrian coast. Syrian forces have been clashing with militants loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad in the worst violence the country has seen since late last year.