Forces affiliated with the interim authority in Syria arrested eight Syrian citizens, most of them from the Alawite sect, while they were passing through the eastern countryside of Aleppo as they were traveling from the Syrian coastal regions in the west of the country to northeastern Syria, in an incident that raises growing human rights concerns regarding freedom of movement and targeting on the basis of sectarian affiliation.
According to the details, on the evening of 4 January 2026, forces affiliated with the interim authority arrested eight citizens near the area of Deir Hafir in the eastern countryside of Aleppo. According to available information, the arrest took place while the group was heading toward areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria.
The information indicates that seven of the detainees belong to the Alawite sect, while the eighth was working as the driver of the vehicle transporting them. The names of the detainees were circulated through accounts loyal to the interim authority on social media, and they are:
Jaafar Wasim Sbour – from Jableh
Ali Samer Raslan – from Tartous
Ahmad Samer Al-Ahmad – from Tartous
Habib Youssef Youssef – from Sribion/Baniyas
Yahya Mohammad Deeb – from Jableh
Khadr Issa Haidar – from Sribion/Baniyas
Habib Younes Ahmad – from Jableh
Youssef Abdullah Al-Sattouf – van driver
According to statements by activists, the detainees had intended to travel to northeastern Syria to work in one of the factories, amid what they described as campaigns of restriction that include dismissal from work, starvation, and abduction, affecting the Syrian coastal areas with an Alawite majority.
In contrast, the official Syrian news channel The Ministry of Defense of the interim authority was quoted stated that the detainees are “elements linked to the former regime,” and that they were arrested while “attempting to cross illegally” into areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Accusations of “association with the former regime” or being “remnants of the regime” have repeatedly been directed at citizens from the Alawite sect following arrest operations carried out by the interim authority, without the announcement of clear judicial procedures or the provision of legal guarantees to the detainees.
This incident comes within a broader context of arrest campaigns that the Syrian coast witnessed during late December 2025 and early January 2026, which targeted civilians, activists, and religious figures from the Alawite sect, against the background of their participation in or support for peaceful demonstrations known as “Flood of Dignity.”
Those demonstrations erupted in protest against the bombing of the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the city of Homs, which resulted in the killing and injury of members of the Alawite sect.
Related incidents:
In this context, security forces arrested Sheikh Assef Mahna Mahna at dawn on 5 January 2026 from his home in the village of Bayt Tleijah in the countryside of Tartous Governorate, after the village and the house were raided by a security force consisting of about ten vehicles, without presenting a judicial warrant or clarifying the reasons for the arrest.
The arrests also included Aktham Deeb “Abu Lamak,” a writer and political and civil activist, in late December 2025, as well as Sheikh Ahmad Habib, head of the Alawite Islamic Council in Latakia Governorate, who was arrested on 30 December 2025 from the village of Qal‘at al-Mahalbeh in the countryside of Qardaha.
This was preceded by the arrest of Sheikh Ali Mohammad Halhal, head of the Alawite Islamic Council in the city of Tartous, on 28 December 2025, due to his stance in support of the peaceful demonstrations.
These incidents reflect an escalating pattern of arrests targeting citizens on political or sectarian grounds in the absence of documented information about the fate of the detainees or the legal bases for their detention procedures, which raises growing concern regarding respect for human rights and basic legal guarantees in areas under the control of the interim authority in Syria.
