A number of citizens from the Alawite sect were killed and others injured in the countryside of the city of Jableh in Latakia Governorate, western Syria, as a result of artillery shelling and raids carried out by elements affiliated with the Ministry of Defense of the Syrian Interim Authority (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham) on the morning of Tuesday, 24 February 2026. The incidents occurred amid a wide security deployment and armed clashes in several villages, according to local sources.
Local sources reported that forces affiliated with the Ministry of Defense of the Interim Authority conducted a raid on the village of Tal Huwayri – Mazra‘at al-Shazriqa in the Jableh countryside, accompanied by artillery shelling that targeted the home of the young man Imran Quraytim, who belongs to the Alawite sect.
According to consistent information received from the area, the shelling and gunfire resulted in the following: the killing of Ali Quraytim and Mohammad Quraytim (cousins of Imran Quraytim); the killing of Imran Quraytim’s mother after she sustained a gunshot wound to the head; and the injury of Imran Quraytim’s brother by a gunshot wound to the shoulder.
The artillery shelling also caused significant damage to several neighboring houses. In addition, a young man from the Bayt Shiha family was arrested, with no further information available regarding his fate or the reasons for his detention.
Simultaneously, the areas of Al-Qutaylibiyah and Al-Daliyah in the Jableh countryside witnessed a wide deployment of Interim Authority elements on the main roads from the early hours of dawn, with the establishment of numerous temporary checkpoints (“flying” checkpoints) and the subjection of civilians to thorough searches.
These developments have generated a state of fear and anxiety among residents. Local sources reported that a number of inhabitants left their homes and sought refuge in nearby forests and agricultural areas out of fear of arbitrary arrest or exposure to harm.
