Video footage has shown acts of burning and vandalism that affected a number of religious shrines belonging to the Alawite community in rural Tartous in western Syria.
According to a video recording published on December 5, 2025 and monitored by Rights Monitor, traces of a fire appeared at the shrine of Sheikh Ahmad al-Sha‘bani in the village of Khirbat al-Akrad in rural Tartous.
This comes after the shrine had previously been subjected to abuse by individuals wearing the uniform of the Ministry of Defense of the interim authorities, “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham,” as shown in another recording published in mid-April 2025.
Similar attacks, on the same date (December 5, 2025), also targeted other religious shrines in rural Tartous, belonging to: Sheikh Hamid Zaghbour, Sheikh Ahmad Zaghbour, and Sheikh Muhammad al-‘Ajami.
On December 1, 2025, armed men detonated the shrine of Sheikh Faraj Abu Hayya in the village of al-Sayyadah in rural Salamiya in Hama Province, leading to its complete destruction. Accounts conflicted over whether the shrine belonged to the Alawite, Sunni, or Sufi community, but its targeting—regardless of its affiliation—constitutes a direct assault on freedom of belief and the practice of religious rituals.
These attacks come amid a noticeable escalation in the targeting of religious shrines and places of worship belonging to the Alawite, Druze, and Christian communities in various Syrian provinces since “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham” assumed power in the country on December 8, 2024.
In Homs Province, on November 24, 2025, the Emmanuel Baptist Church in the Armenian Quarter was subjected to a violent attack during the assault on Alawite and Christian neighborhoods in the province.
On Thursday, November 13, 2025, acts of vandalism also targeted the shrine of Sheikh Hamid (Ahmad bin Battah al-Shami), which belongs to the Alawite community in the al-Makhram area in rural Homs. The acts were attributed to members of a security checkpoint affiliated with “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham” before they withdrew following complaints by residents. The damages included breaking and removing doors, tampering with marble, and cutting down trees.
On November 7, 2025, a circulated image showed inciting phrases calling for the killing of Christians written on the gate of a Christian religious shrine in Ma‘rat Saydnaya in rural Damascus. Days earlier, the Church of al-Karles in the Qassa‘ neighborhood in Damascus had been subjected to vandalism that included breaking one of the statues and writing phrases of a religiously inciting nature.
On October 21, 2025, the shrine of Sheikh Muhammad al-Balsanuri, belonging to the Alawite community in the village of al-Mawrid in the district of Qura Markaz Banias in rural Tartous, was attacked by throwing grenades inside it, causing a large fire that completely destroyed its contents and inflicted severe structural damage, leaving it nearly destroyed.
