An ongoing series of mass killings and massacres against Alawite civilians has occurred in Syria since December 2024, primarily in the country's coastal region, particularly during the ongoing clashes in Western Syria in the Syrian civil war.

An especially brutal series of massacres began in early March 2025 in Latakia Governorate, where according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Syrian security forces killed hundreds of civilians over the span of two days, including 52 Alawite individuals in the towns of Al-Mukhtariya and Al-Shir in rural Latakia alone. These events took place during a period of heightened tensions and armed clashes between Syrian transitional government forces and militants that are allegedly loyal to former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Despite assurances by new government officials that minorities would be safe in the new Syria, Alawite communities have been subject to a number of massacres since December 2024.^[10]

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), at least 750 civilians were killed in 29 separate massacres from 6–8 March 2025.^{[11][5][12][13]} Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reported that 190 civilians were killed by armed militias supporting the Syrian government between 6 and 8 March. France24 desrcribed the events as the “Deadliest acts of violence in over a decade”.

Coastal Syria, and especially Latakia Governorate, has historically served as the heartland of Syria's Alawite community, a minority religious group considered an offshoot sect of Shia Islam. The Assad family, which ruled Syria for decades, belongs to this religious minority. Following the fall of Assad in December 2024 and the implementation of a transitional government under then-Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham emir Ahmed al-Sharaa, clashes arose between government forces and pro-Assad loyalist holdouts, particularly in regions with significant Alawite populations.^[14]

The new administration had reportedly been restructuring state apparatus through widespread dismissals of officials, many of whom came from the Alawite community. According to Alawite activists, members of their community had experienced targeted violence and persecution since Assad's fall, particularly in rural areas of Homs and Latakia Governorates. Despite al-Sharaa's public commitment to inclusive governance, no formal meetings with senior Alawite representatives were reported, in contrasted with administration's documented meetings with leaders from other minority groups including Kurds, Christians, and Druze.^[15]

Violence significantly escalated on 6 March 2025, when intense armed confrontations broke out in Latakia Governorate between Syrian security personnel and armed groups, allegedly loyal to the former president. The fighting spread across several towns in the region predominantly inhabited by Alawites.^[16] The violence initially concentrated around the Jableh area but rapidly expanded to other locations. On 7 March, Syrian authorities implemented curfews in the cities Tartus and Latakia along the Syrian coast.^[15] Residents of Qardaha reported heavy machine gun fire in residential areas, preventing them from leaving their homes due to intense fighting.^[17]

On 14 January 2025, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that Alawite civilians of Tasnin located in the Homs countryside were targeted by gunmen attributing themselves to the Military Operations Command. According to SOHR, the gunmen launched a widespread arrest operation towards the village from early morning to the afternoon of 16 January. Several suspects resisted the arrest attempts. During the operation, the attackers set seven houses on fire and murdered six civilians. Multiple villagers and elders in Tasnin and nearby settlements attempted to report the massacre to Syrian government police and security forces, but did not receive any response mentioning the violence.^[18]

On 23 January 2025, the SOHR reported that the Military Operations Command launched a large-scale security campaign in collaboration with local gunmen in the villages of al-Hamam, al-Ghozaylah, and al-Gharbiyah in the countryside west of Homs. During the operation, four civilians were extrajudicially killed, ten civilians were injured, and five others were arrested. The military forces abused and assaulted other villagers, forcing several to bark and bray like animals. The military forces also destroyed several village tombstones.^[19][20]

France24 desrcribed the recent events in which several hundred Alawites were killed as the “Deadliest acts of violence in over a decade”.^[21]

On 7 March 2025, monitoring groups including the SOHR reported that security forces had conducted executions of fifty-two Alawite men in the Latakia countryside. The organization based its findings on video evidence it had authenticated alongside testimonies collected from relatives of the victims. According to their documentation, these killings occurred in the specific locations of Al-Shir, Al-Mukhtariya, and Al-Haffah.^[14] According to SOHR director Rami Abdurrahman, gunmen killed 69 men in these villages while sparing women and children. Lebanese broadcaster Al-Mayadeen corroborated these reports, claiming that over 30 men were executed in Mukhtariyeh alone after being separated from women and children.^[17] Thirteen women and five children were also reported to have been killed.^[22] Reuters reported that location-verified imagery from the town showed approximately 20 men, many visibly bloodied, lying alongside one another along a roadside in the town center.^[23]

Multiple sources released footage showing deceased individuals in civilian attire collected in a residential courtyard, with blood visible in the vicinity and women audibly mourning. Additional video evidence reportedly showed armed individuals in military uniforms directing three people to move on the ground before shooting them at close range. The SOHR distributed these recordings, as did local activists.^[14] Two videos showing a car dragging a body in Latakia were verified by the BBC.^[22] Local Alawite residents gathered outside a Russian air base near Jableh seeking protection.^[17] There are reports that Alawites who had opposed the Assad regime in the past were also murdered in sectarian attacks.^[24]

On 7 March 2025, the Ministry of Defense said that it wouldn't let violations be committed by the Syrian Army's forces or any other armed militants, and that units who commited violations will be punished.^{[citation needed]}

Sixty people located in the coastal city of Baniyas, including ten women and five children, were reportedly killed in mass executions conducted by members of the Syrian Ministry of Defense and General Security Service, marking one of the largest single massacres documented on 7 March.^[22][25]

By the early hours of 8 March, thirty-eight civilians in Al-Mukhtariya were reported to have been executed by members of the Syrian Ministry of Defense and General Security Service forces. Twenty-four civilians in Al-Shir were killed in firing squad field executions by government defense and security forces, twenty-two in Qarfais, seven in the Al-Haffah district, and seven more in Beit Ana and Duwayr Baabda in the Jableh countryside. Two citizens were summarily killed by firing squad in Yahmur, located in the Tartus countryside. Sheikh Shaaban Mansour and his son were killed by a firing squad field execution in Salhab, Hama Governorate, by government security forces.^[25] Combined with the earlier report of sixty civilians killed in Baniyas, the SOHR claimed that at least 162 civilians were killed across five separate massacres on 7 March alone.^[26]

On 8 March 2025, the General Security Forces installed multiple checkpoints in the coastal cities of Syria to prevent violations from occurring.^{[citation needed]} Thousands of Alawite civilians and their families fled to the Khmeimim Air Base – still under Russian control – in Latakia province to seek refuge.^[27]

By mid-day on 8 March, the number of reported killings reached 532,^[28][29][30] and reached 745 by the end of the day.^[11][31] 31 civilians in Tuwaym, including nine children and four women, were killed and buried in a mass grave.^[31] Residents of Alawite villages and towns claimed that gunmen shot civilians in streets or at the entrances to their homes. In some instances, assailants reportedly checked identification documents to verify individuals' religious affiliation before killing them. Other witnesses reported attackers gathering near residential buildings, firing indiscriminately at homes, burning down homes, stealing cars and property, leaving bodies in the streets, on rooftops, and inside homes, and preventing residents from retrieving the deceased for proper burial. Some residents claimed that the attackers included foreign fighters and militants from neighboring communities, though these allegations could not be independently verified.^[31]

Electricity and drinking water supplies were cut off in large areas around Latakia. Thousands of residents reportedly fled to nearby mountains for safety. Others sought refuge across the border in Lebanon, according to Lebanese lawmaker Haidar Nasser.^[31] Lebanese lawmaker Sajih Attieh reported that “very large waves” of displaced Syrians evacuated to five or six Alawite villages in Akkar District, estimating a total of 10,000 arrivals in one day. He claimed that due to earlier Israeli bombardments of three border crossings, there was no public security present to legally control the flow of displaced Syrians.^[32]

An unknown number of non-Alawite religious minorities, including Christians, were also targeted and killed in the massacres, with many also fleeing from their villages into the mountains. Nonprofit organization Greco-Levantines World Wide reported that two Antiochian Greek Christians, a father and his son, were killed, and that the father of Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation priest Fr. Gregorios Bishara was killed.^[33]

Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma Joshua Landis reported on 8 March that the greatest amount of deaths and massacres occurred in the Jableh District, with 133 individuals (38% of casualties) killed across ten massacres. Haffah and Baniyas each had four reported mass killings.^[33]

The Alawite Islamic Council released a statement attributing responsibility for the violence to the government. The council claimed that military convoys had been dispatched to the coastal region under the pretext of targeting "regime remnants" but were instead "terrorizing and killing Syrians." The organization called for United Nations protection for the coastal territories.^[17]

The Syrian government's news agency SANA acknowledged "some individual violations" following attacks by pro-Assad forces that had resulted in police casualties, stating that authorities were "working to stop them."^[17] The agency also reported that several individuals traveled to Alawite coastal settlements to carry out revenge for attacks against the government.^[34]

The Syrian General Intelligence Service accused "former military and security leaders affiliated with the defunct regime [of being] behind the planning of these crimes" regarding the cause of the escalated violence. The Ministry of Defense stated that government units had successfully re-taken areas where pro-Assad forces attacked its forces.^[34]

Later that day the Syrian presidency announced the formation of a seven-member independent committee to investigate the incidents. This committee is tasked with examining violations against civilians, identifying those responsible, and has the authority to question individuals as part of its inquiry. They are required to submit a comprehensive report within 30 days, after which those found culpable will be referred to the judiciary for prosecution.^[35]

In a speech addressing Syrian people on 8 March, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa stated: "Some remnants of the fallen regime attempted to test the new Syria they do not understand. Today, they see it as united, from east to west, from north to south, ...".^[36] Condemning the attacks against police forces, hospitals and civilians by Assadist insurgents,^[37] al-Sharaa said: "You attacked all Syrians and made an unforgivable mistake. The riposte has come, and you have not been able to withstand it."^[38] He demanded that they surrender their arms "before it's too late." He stated that he would "continue to work towards monopolizing weapons in the hands of the state, and there will be no more unregulated weapons."^[34] Al-Sharaa urged pro-government fighters to "avoid any abuses" after reports emerged of massacres of Alawite civilians in Latakia.^[39]

On 8 March 2025, the Syrian Ministry of Defense said that it wouldn't let violations be committed by the Syrian Army's Forces or any other armed militants, and that an emergency committee was formed to refer disobeying units to a military court. The spokesman of the Ministry of Defense Hassan Abdel Ghani urged militants who have no connection to the military operation in the Syrian coast to leave the area.^[40][41][42]

On March 9, 2025, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decision to form an independent national committee to investigate and find the facts about the events and violations that took place in the Syrian coastal areas since March 6, 2025. The committee was tasked with uncovering the circumstances and conditions that led to those events, and the violations against civilians, government forces and security personnel that occurred, and identifying those responsible and bringing them to justice. al-Sharaa stressed that the committee, consisting of 7 judges, should submit its report to the President of the Republic within a maximum period of 30 days from the date of issuance of the decision. ^[43]

•  France: On 8 March, France's Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs issued a statement that condemned all sectarian and civilian-involved violence occurring in Syria, and requested that the Syrian transitional government employ independeal-Sharaa investigations to sentence the perpetrators of the regional violence and killings. The Government of France reiterated its hopes for a "peaceful and inclusive political transition" in Syria to protect the nation from violence and fragmentation.^[44]

•  Germany: On 7 March 2025, Germany's Foreign Ministry urged all parties involved in the ongoing conflict in Syria to avoid further escalation of violence. In a statement, the ministry expressed concern over the rising number of casualties in western Syria, calling for peaceful solutions and national unity. The statement read: "We are shocked by the numerous victims in the western regions of Syria. We call on all sides to seek peaceful solutions, national unity, inclusive political dialogue and transitional justice, and to overcome the spiral of violence and hatred."^[34]
•  European Union: On 8 March, a statement from the European Union External Action diplomatic service on behalf of the European Union condemned attacks by "pro-Assad elements" on transitional government armed forces, and attacks on civilians. The European Union further condemned all attempts to undermine the nation's stability and "prospects for a lasting peaceful transition, inclusive and respectful of all Syrians in their diversity".^[45]

•  Israel: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz characterized Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (referred to by Katz under his nom de guerre "Al-Julani") as "a jihadist terrorist from the Al-Qaeda school, committing atrocities against the Alawite civilian population." Katz affirmed Israel's intention to maintain control of Mount Hermon and other security areas, defend communities in the Golan and Galilee regions, ensure southern Syria's demilitarization, and defend the local Druze population.^[15]

•  United Arab Emirates: UAE foreign ministry condemned the attacks by armed insurgents targeting the Syrian security forces and asserted that the UAE supported "Syria's stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity."^[46]

•  United Nations: The United Nations called for an immediate investigation into the reports of targeted killings based on religious identity. Human rights organizations emphasized the need for independent investigators to access the sites to document potential war crimes or crimes against humanity. Several countries issued statements condemning violence against civilians and urging restraint from all parties involved in the Syrian conflict.^[14] International organizations expressed concern about potential sectarian violence in the region following reports of targeted killings. Geir Pedersen, United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, expressed alarm regarding the intense clashes and killings, noting "very troubling reports of civilian casualties" in coastal areas between forces of the current Syrian administration Alawite pro-Assad holdouts.^[15]
•  United States: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the killings and offered condolences. He further indicated that "the United States stands with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities" and that the "perpetrators of these massacres against Syria’s minority communities" should be held accountable.^[47]
• International Committee of the Red Cross: The International Committee of the Red Cross released a statement stating that the organization was "extremely concerned" about the reported violence, and insisted that all parties involved not target medical facilities, allow for unhindered health care access, and allow for humanitarian workers to reach the injured and dead.^[48]
• A joint statement by Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch John X, Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church Ignatius Aphrem II, and Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch Youssef Absi strongly condemned the "massacres targeting innocent citizens", specifically mentioning the killing of women and children, the raiding and looting of their homes, and the "immense suffering endured by the Syrian people". The statement called for Syria to give equal rights and "genuine partnership" to all its citizens of different backgrounds, separate from the "logic of vengeance and exclusion".^[49]

In Hatay and Adana provinces in Southeastern Turkey, multiple Alevi advocacy groups organized protests against the mass killings. Many speakers accused the Turkish government of facilitating crimes against humanity as a result of it granting military support to Syria. Protesters also condemned the perceived silence by Turkish officials and the public regarding the acts, and called upon both to resist the present Syrian government and support the Syrian people.^[50]

The co-chairs of Turkey's DEM Party, Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan, issued a written statement criticizing the new Syrian administration's policies. They expressed concern that the administration excluded Kurds, Alawites, Druze, women, and other groups from key political processes such as forming a transitional government and drafting a constitution. The statement also condemned massacres targeting Alawites in Latakia and Tartus, attributing them to the administration's exclusionary policies, and noted similar incidents in Hama, Homs, and nearby villages. It warned that these events showed the civil war was still ongoing and described the situation as one of the largest massacres of Alawites in modern history, unfolding in full view of the international community.^[51]

The chairman of the Republican People's Party, Özgür Özel, expressed deep concern over the increasing violence against Alawites in Latakia and the surrounding areas, which has resulted in rising civilian casualties. Özel criticized the Turkish government's previous optimistic rhetoric about a resolution in Syria, stating that the renewed clashes have dispelled this illusion. He also highlighted the anxiety felt by Turkish Alawites with relatives in the affected regions and expressed solidarity with their concerns. Özel called on the government to take more effective diplomatic steps with the Syrian administration to prevent further civilian casualties.^[52]

Protestors in Turkey condemned the Turkish government for its support for the Syrian Armed Forces' actions against Alawites which they said amounted to crimes against humanity. Samandağ Mayor Emrah Karaçay said " The massacres in Syria are moving toward genocide.^[53]

• Aqrab massacre
• Maan massacre
• Adra massacre
• 2013 Latakia offensive
• Homs school bombing
• Zara'a attack
• February 2016 Homs bombings
• List of massacres during the Syrian civil war