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A Syria war monitor said nine people were killed Wednesday in clashes in Tartus province after security forces sought to arrest an officer under deposed leader Bashar al-Assad who was linked to a notorious prison.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "six members of the General Security force" of Syria's new authorities were killed, along with "three armed men" in Khirbet al-Maaza, after forces sought to arrest an officer who was among "those responsible for the crimes of the Saydnaya prison".

The doors of Syria's prisons were flung open after rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Assad this month, more than 13 years after his brutal repression of anti-government protests triggered a war that has killed more than 500,000 people.

An HTS official confirmed to AFP that clashes erupted between the new authorities' security forces and supporters of the former government in Tartus province - a stronghold of Assad's Alawite minority - without commenting on the reason for the clashes.

Several members of the security forces were killed, the official said, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to brief the media.

The Observatory said the wanted man was "an officer in the former regime forces who held the position of director of the military justice department and field court chief", without identifying him by name.

It said he "issued death sentences and arbitrary judgements against thousands of prisoners".

The clashes erupted after "a number of residents refused to allow their houses to be searched", said the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

The officer's brother and armed men intercepted the security forces and "targeted one of the patrol vehicles", the Observatory said, resulting in the deaths.

It added that "dozens of people" were arrested in the village.

The notorious Saydnaya complex, the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, epitomised the atrocities committed against Assad's opponents.

The fate of tens of thousands of prisoners and missing people remains one of the most harrowing legacies of the conflict.