Year After Syrian coast massacres… effects of tragedy continue, justice remains absent

Between March 6 and March 10, 2025, the Syrian coastal regions witnessed bloody violence following military operations that forces affiliated with the Syrian interim government and factions supported by Turkey said were targeting what they described as “remnants of the former Syrian regime.”

According to human rights reports and local testimonies, these events resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians.

How did the events begin?

On March 6, 2025, after months of scattered incidents of violence and escalating sectarian incitement, government forces stormed the town of Beit Aana in the Jableh countryside in Latakia, supported by helicopter aircraft and artillery shelling.

In the aftermath, armed groups from the Alawite community attempted to seize control of certain areas along the coast, according to local accounts.

This was followed by a widespread mobilization announced by the Ministry of Defense through online communication applications, including WhatsApp groups, accompanied by calls for what was described as a “general mobilization” and “jihad” that were launched from some mosques.

As armed convoys moved toward the coast, security forces and allied groups began sweeping and pursuit operations in villages and towns with an Alawite majority.

These operations quickly turned into a series of massacres, according to video footage and local testimonies, which included field executions, the killing of families inside their homes, the burning and looting of civilian property, the mutilation of some bodies, and leaving them in the streets.

Conflicting narratives about the causes of escalation

Government forces said the events erupted after their forces were attacked in the village of Beit Aana in the Jableh countryside. However, the rapid escalation of operations and the spread of armed attacks on multiple positions and villages along the coast including areas in the countryside of Latakia, Tartous, and villages around Jableh led some observers to say that the operations carried a retaliatory character.

By the evening of March 6, violence intensified amid escalating sectarian incitement rhetoric. Cities including Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, and Idlib witnessed calls to participate in the fighting under religious and sectarian slogans.

The following day, after military reinforcements arrived at the coast, government forces announced they were launching operations against positions that had belonged to the former regime in Qardaha and Banias. However, eyewitnesses said the operations turned into attacks targeting civilians in several areas, resulting in the deaths of hundreds.

The attacks were concentrated in the areas of al-Mukhtariya and al-Haffah in the Latakia countryside, in addition to Banias and the al-Da’tour neighborhood in the city of Latakia, and extended to the countryside of Qardaha, Jableh, and Tartous.

Eyewitnesses told several Arab and foreign media outlets that field executions had taken place targeting individuals from the Alawite sect based on their dialect, identity cards, or the origins of their villages. A number of Sunni civilians were also killed in mixed areas as a result of the chaos. Residents also reported looting and the burning of homes and property in Banias and Jableh.

Human rights reports documenting the violations

A report issued by the International Organization for Monitoring Crimes Against Humanity on May 29, 2025 documented 62 sectarian massacres in cities and villages along the coast during just three days in March 2025, resulting in the killing of 1,676 civilians, including women and children.

The organization described the events as a “systematic wave of mass killings and violations that may amount to crimes against humanity.”

The report also documented testimonies about field executions carried out by armed men wearing official military uniforms suspected of being linked to authorities in Damascus.

The report further noted the abduction of more than 50 women, who were held in humiliating conditions, in addition to documenting cases described as “sexual enslavement,” in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

In July 2025, Reuters published an investigative report examining the coastal events between March 7 and 9, 2025. It reported that at least 1,479 people were killed and dozens went missing in 40 different locations, amid retaliatory killings and looting.

The investigation relied on interviews with more than 200 families of victims and 40 security officials, fighters, investigators, and government intermediaries, and traced the chain of command from the direct perpetrators to figures close to leaders of the new authorities.

Journalists reviewed written lists of victims’ names, video footage from surveillance cameras, and messages via the Telegram application that were reportedly used by a Ministry of Defense official to coordinate government responses.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also documented the killing of 1,682 Alawite civilians, including women, children, and elderly people, during only three days in 63 massacres stretching from the countryside of Latakia to Tartous and the rural areas of Hama and Homs, in a wave of violence marked by a clear sectarian character.

Controversy over official investigations

Despite the documentation of these violations, authorities in Damascus denied direct responsibility for the events. The head of the interim phase, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said days after the outbreak that Syria “will pursue the remnants of Bashar al-Assad’s ousted regime and bring them to trial,” adding that some remnants of the regime “are trying to test the new Syria.”

Al-Sharaa also said he had issued instructions to security forces not to allow abuses or excessive reactions.

However, observers said these statements reflected a “disconnect from reality,” noting similarities with the rhetoric used by former president Bashar al-Assad during the years of war.

In an attempt to contain the controversy, the authorities of the interim government announced the formation of a committee of inquiry into the coastal events. However, its results drew widespread criticism from activists, artists, writers, and politicians, who considered the report issued by the committee an attempt to justify the crimes rather than reveal those responsible.

The report failed to clearly identify the responsible parties, instead referring vaguely to “remnants linked to the former regime,” “undisciplined volunteer elements,” and “rogue gangs.”

The committee also acknowledged in a press conference that its conclusions were based on “suspicion rather than conclusive evidence,” prompting Zaid al-Azm, a member of the French Renaissance Party, to say that this was “enough to make the report legally questionable,” describing it as “a politicized report bearing the stamp and signature of the authorities.”

For her part, Syrian actress Yara Sabri commented on the report’s findings by saying that its conclusion amounted to “recording individual violations by undisciplined elements and some spontaneous mobilizations,” accompanied by vague promises of accountability at a later stage after laws are passed by a legislative council that has not yet been formed.

Meanwhile, Rami Abdul Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, described the committee as “a committee for obscuring the truth,” arguing that describing the events as isolated incidents was intended to reduce the scale of the crime and avoid acknowledging them as organized massacres.

One year later… the truth remains incomplete

One year after those bloody events, the full truth is still incomplete, as comprehensive results from independent investigations or public accountability measures against those involved have not been announced. Meanwhile, local reports indicate that sporadic violations against residents of the Syrian coast from the Alawite community continue to occur.

ANHA