The security forces affiliated with the de facto authority in Syria arrested Sheikh Ahmad Habib, Head of the Alawite Islamic Council in Latakia Governorate, on 30 December 2025, from the village of Qal‘at al-Mahaliba in the rural area of Qardaha, Latakia Governorate, amid a heavy security presence that the village had witnessed since the early morning hours.
The arrest of Sheikh Ahmad Habib comes in the context of a security campaign that followed peaceful demonstrations which took place in several areas of the Syrian coast on 28 December 2025, in which members of the Alawite community participated, protesting the bombing that targeted the Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the city of Homs, resulting in deaths and injuries, all of whom were members of the Alawite community.
Sheikh Ahmad Habib is an Alawite religious figure and holds the position of Head of the Alawite Islamic Council in Latakia Governorate. He is considered one of the well-known religious and social figures in the region and is a civilian not known to have been involved in any armed activity.
Following his arrest, the Ministry of Interior affiliated with the de facto authority displayed a photograph of Sheikh Ahmad Habib wearing a striped uniform designated for detainees, and in its statement described those arrested in connection with the protests as “war criminals.”
The Interior Ministry statement said: “The Internal Security Directorates in Latakia and the areas of Jableh and Qardaha, in addition to Tartous and its countryside, and in cooperation with the Counter-Terrorism Branch, carried out several security operations through which they succeeded in arresting a number of individuals involved in war crimes and inciting acts that seriously threatened civil peace among the people in the governorates of Latakia and Tartous, following external inciting calls of a sectarian nature that led to a state of chaos.”
According to available information, the arrests included a number of civilians, including writers, sheikhs, and youths, some of them at a very young age, without the announcement of judicial arrest warrants or clear legal procedures.
The arrest of Sheikh Ahmad Habib coincided with the earlier arrest of Sheikh Ali Mohammad Halahl, Head of the Alawite Islamic Council in the city of Tartous, on 28 December 2025, in connection with his supportive stance toward the peaceful demonstrations on the Syrian coast. The Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora condemned these arrests, considering them arbitrary detentions and a violation of freedom of opinion and political and humanitarian stance, and called for the immediate release of all detainees.
The demonstrations that took place in Latakia, Tartous, Jableh, Baniyas, and Qardaha, in addition to Homs and its countryside and the countryside of Hama, witnessed deaths and injuries among protesters, according to circulated video clips, as a result of gunfire and assaults during attempts to disperse the protests, along with the establishment of security checkpoints and road closures.
These movements came in response to a call issued by Sheikh Ghazal Ghazal, Head of the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora, on 27 December 2025, for peaceful demonstrations condemning the bombing, demanding an end to what the protesters described as targeting on the basis of sectarian identity, and raising demands related to federalism and political decentralization, and the protection of civil peace.
It is noted that the arrests targeted religious and social figures, within a tense security context being witnessed in the Syrian coastal regions, amid growing fears of the repercussions of these measures on public freedoms and civil peace.
