On the evening of Tuesday, 30 December 2025, armed groups affiliated with the de facto authority arrested Engineer Osama Abdul Muin Khaddour, who belongs to the Alawite sect, from his home in the Sabil neighborhood of the city of Homs in western Syria, near Issa al-Fahli School.
During the arrest operation, his family received reassurances from the party that carried out the arrest stating that he would be released within a short period of time.
On 1 January 2026, the victim’s family received news that his body was inside the morgue refrigerator at al-Waer Hospital in the city of Homs. A photograph that reached his family showed that he had been shot in the head.
Accordingly, Engineer Osama was killed shortly after his arrest, without any official charges being brought against him or his referral to any judicial authority.
The available information indicates that the victim was killed extrajudicially following his arrest, and that the only reason attributed to targeting him, according to local sources, was his sectarian affiliation. No official information was provided regarding the circumstances of his detention, the details of his killing, or the legally responsible party.
The killing of Engineer Osama Abdul Muin Khaddour comes within a broader context of escalating killings and violations against civilians in various areas of Syria, particularly against individuals from diverse religious and sectarian backgrounds, amid a state of security breakdown and the absence of effective accountability mechanisms.
During the same period, a number of killings of civilians were documented, including the killing of Wael Faraj al-Fouani on 1 January 2026 in front of his shop in the al-Walid suburb of the city of Homs; he was a civilian belonging to the Shiite sect.
These incidents, including the killing of Engineer Osama Abdul Muin Khaddour, reflect a troubling pattern of serious violations of the right to life and personal security, amid the continued absence of accountability and the lack of any real guarantees for the protection of civilians in areas under the control of the interim authority.
