Syrian authorities say they have halted a military operation along the country's western coastline designed to quell a surge in violence that is reported to have claimed hundreds of lives. "We are announcing the end of the military operation

The reported fighting in the capital, Damascus, and the second city of Aleppo marked the first such clashes there since the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Monday on renewed concerns about the security of Syria’s Armenian community raised by last week’s reported killings of hundreds of civilians blamed on Syrian government forces.

A human rights group characterized the killings as executions and massacres, carried out in revenge against the Alawite community, which made up Assad's longtime base of support.

The announcement comes as the fighting between pro-Assad militias and members of the security forces killed more than 1,000 people, majority of whom are civilians, amid reports of rights violations.

Foreign ministers of Türkiye, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria met in Amman amid heightened violence in Syria’s coastal provinces - Anadolu Ajansı

The resumption of hostilities in Syria could change everything, and the Russian military could suddenly find itself in a precarious and vulnerable position.