A young man from the Shiite community was killed in the western countryside of Homs, while contact has been lost with a man from the Alawite community in the capital, Damascus, in two separate incidents that fall within a broader context of escalating violations targeting civilians on sectarian grounds in Syria.
According to available information, Adnan Sobhi Krish, a young man originating from al-Ghor al-Gharbiya village in western rural Homs, was killed on Thursday, 30 January 2026, after being shot by armed individuals while he was on the outskirts of the village collecting wild mushrooms. The data indicate that he was targeted due to his affiliation with the Shiite community.
In a separate incident, sources reported the loss of contact with Yamen Ayman Mia, an Alawite man, since the morning of Tuesday, 28 January 2026, after he left his home in the al-Wuroud neighborhood near the capital, Damascus. Since that time, no confirmed information has been obtained regarding his fate or whereabouts.
These two incidents occur amid a noticeable escalation of violations against civilians belonging to minority groups in Syria, including members of the Shiite, Alawite, and Druze communities, as well as individuals of Kurdish ethnicity, following Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s assumption of power in the country. Field evidence points to an increase in killings and arbitrary arrests motivated by sectarian considerations, reflecting a deeply concerning pattern of serious human rights violations.
In this context, local and human rights actors are intensifying calls for the restoration of security, the disclosure of the fate of the missing, and the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for these crimes, in order to ensure the protection of civilians and to put an end to violations committed on sectarian grounds.
