Following conflict, new alert (4)
I believe the answer is:
warn
'alert' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'following conflict new' is the wordplay.
'following' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'conflict' becomes 'war' (war is a kind of conflict).
'new' becomes 'n'.
'war'+'n' is 'WARN'.
(Other definitions for warn that I've seen before include "Tip off" , "Admonish, caution" , "Sound the alarm" , "Give advance notice to" , "Advise" .)