The Syrian coast and central regions witnessed, on 25 November 2025, a wide wave of peaceful demonstrations in 42 locations, concentrated in areas with an Alawite majority, demanding an end to killing and arbitrary arrest, the release of detainees, and the adoption of a federal system. These movements were followed, especially in the countryside of Jableh, Latakia, and Homs, by a heavy security deployment of General Security elements affiliated with the interim authority “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham” along with summons and arrest campaigns targeting mukhtars, notable figures, and a number of civilians, in the context of a clear security escalation following the protests.
Several sources reported on 26 November 2025 that a state of relative calm prevailed in the western governorates after a day of protests, as schools, institutions, and markets were reopened. However, this calm coincided with tightened security measures in the areas that had witnessed the demonstrations.
According to sources, a number of mukhtars and notable figures from several villages in the countryside of Jableh were summoned to the district directorate in the city of Jableh for interrogation, against the background of the protests that swept the Syrian coastal areas the previous day. The village of al-Anazah in the countryside of Baniyas also witnessed an arrest campaign carried out during the night of 25–26 November 2025, without any information being reported about the number of detainees or their places of detention.
Intensive security deployment
In the countryside of Jableh, activists monitored the entry of two buses full of security elements into the headquarters of Brigade 107, in addition to the entry of several vehicles belonging to security elements into the town of al-Daliyah, while a group of elements headed to the village of Ayn Sharqiyah and took up positions near the police station, with another group heading to the subdistrict of al-Huwaiz.
According to the initial information that was monitored, the peaceful demonstrations in a number of cities and towns were subjected to physical assaults and attempts of ramming by supporters of the authority in Latakia, Jableh, and Tartous.
In the city of Homs, the demonstrations were dispersed with live ammunition fired by General Security, with arrests carried out against a number of protesters. The western countryside of Homs also witnessed a wide security deployment that prevented protesters from gathering.
Conversely, demonstrations of a sectarian character were held by supporters of the authority in Homs, Baniyas, Hama, and Latakia, calling for the killing and displacement of Alawites. In the city of Latakia, sectarian groups roamed the streets of Alawite neighborhoods and smashed a number of cars and commercial shops.
On the evening of Tuesday, 25 November 2025, the streets of the city of Latakia witnessed gatherings of supporters of “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham,” during which they chanted sectarian slogans and insults targeting the Alawite sect, following the peaceful demonstrations that took place in response to the call of Sheikh Ghazal Ghazal.
Scope of the demonstrations and their geographic distribution
Thousands of Alawite protesters, with the participation of Christian, Ismaili, and Murshidi protesters in some areas, took to the streets in 42 locations, including:
Latakia Governorate:
The city of Latakia (al-Azhari roundabout, al-Ziraa roundabout, al-Hammam Square), Jableh, al-Qardahah, Bayt Yashout, Zama, Ayn Shaqaq, al-Qutaylibiyah, Damsarkho, Basnada, Brabshbo, al-Daliyah.
Tartous Governorate:
The city of Tartous (al-Areed, al-Saadi roundabout), al-Dreikish, Safita, Baniyas, al-Shaykh Badr, al-Kharbah.
The protesters demanded: “an end to killing, kidnapping, and arbitrary arrest, the release of detainees, and the adoption of a federal system of governance and political decentralization.”
These developments come in the wake of violent events that the city of Homs witnessed on 23 November 2025, following a murder that occurred on the morning of that day in the town of Zaydal, south of the city, in which a couple from the Sunni sect belonging to the Bani Khalid tribe were killed, with writings of a sectarian nature present at the crime scene.
After news of the crime spread, tensions quickly escalated in the city, and Homs witnessed widespread armed attacks involving members of the Bani Khalid tribe and groups of Bedouins, which mainly targeted neighborhoods with an Alawite majority.
Documented facts indicate that the peaceful demonstrations that took place on 25 November 2025 were met with a series of tightened security measures, accompanied by arrest campaigns and the summoning of mukhtars and notable figures in the countryside of Jableh, in addition to the use of excessive force in some areas, especially in Latakia, where scenes of live fire at protesters were documented. This coincided with an escalation of sectarian incitement rhetoric and attacks on property, within a tense security context that calls for an independent investigation and legal accountability for the violations committed.
