Pro-Transitional Govt gunmen burn religious shrines in rural Tartous

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that an armed group belonging to the Transitional Government burned the shrines of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajami, Sheikh Hamid Zaghbour, and Sheikh Ahmad al-Shaabani in the village of Khirbet al-Akrad in the Akkar Plain south of Tartous.

According to the Observatory, the shrine of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajami was vandalized, graves surrounding it were exhumed and smashed, after residents discovered the extent of the damage while burying one of the village’s deceased. The attack targeted sacred sites and violated the sanctity of the shrines. Relevant authorities were called in to investigate the incident.

These developments sparked anger and resentment among local residents, who argued that official silence encourages such acts and opens the door to further chaos and assaults on the population and their beliefs.

Residents demanded an immediate investigation, accountability for those involved, and measures to halt the ongoing violations that now threaten civil peace and the dignity of citizens in rural Tartous.

Shrines and religious sites belonging to Alawites and other sects and faiths—especially Christian sites—have faced repeated assaults by armed groups, amid media silence and lack of action from the Transitional Government in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had previously reported, on November 14, that members of a security checkpoint had, days earlier, taken over the shrine of Sheikh Hamid “Ahmad ibn Batta al-Shami,” a site belonging to the Alawite community located on the al-Makhram road in eastern Homs countryside, prompting residents to file official complaints.

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ANHA