ALEPPO, Syria — Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, appealed on Sunday for calm and for unity as he moved to reassure the nation after days of clashes that a monitoring group said had killed hundreds of people.

“We must preserve national unity and civil peace,” he said from a mosque in Damascus, according to video that circulated online. “We call on Syrians to be reassured because the country has the fundamentals for survival.”

The violence erupted last week between fighters affiliated with Syria’s new government, headed by al-Sharaa, and those loyal to ousted dictator Bashar Assad. Scores of civilians have been killed, according to two war monitoring groups, along with combatants on both sides of the conflict.

Al-Sharaa’s remarks Sunday came as fresh fighting was reported in the countryside of the coastal Latakia and Tartus provinces. A spokesperson for the Defense Ministry, Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani, told state media that government forces were combing the countryside for armed fighters loyal to the deposed Assad regime.

— The New York Times