On the morning of 24 December 2025, the home of Mr. Ali Salman Ali, known as “Abu Salman,” an unarmed civilian man, elderly, disabled, suffering from illness, and unable to move, belonging to the Alawite community in the village of Ba‘bada in the rural area of Jableh in Latakia Governorate, western Syria, was subjected to shelling that led to the destruction of large parts of it, resulting in his death.
This occurred during a security operation carried out by the General Security forces affiliated with the temporary authority “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham,” which targeted residential neighborhoods in the village. According to available information, civilian homes were targeted indiscriminately using heavy machine guns and RPG rounds, leading to the killing of the victim while he was completely unable to move.
The killing of the victim coincided with the storming by a convoy of General Security forces of the villages of Ba‘bada and Duwayr Ba‘bada under the pretext of pursuing and arresting wanted individuals. The raid was accompanied by intensive and indiscriminate use of weapons, including gunfire in residential neighborhoods, throwing grenades between houses, as well as firing shells toward the surrounding wooded areas, despite the presence of civilians in the area.
These operations also coincided with the time when school students were leaving, causing a state of fear and panic among residents, especially children. Several locations within the village of Ba‘bada witnessed heavy gunfire into the air without the presence of a clear military target, in what appeared to be aimed at intimidating the population.
According to available information, a General Security patrol entered the village of Ba‘bada and fired shots into the air upon arrival. Later, a clash occurred between patrol members and wanted persons inside one of the farms in the village. Subsequently, the wanted persons managed to flee, while the forces searched the farm, before additional reinforcements arrived and set up checkpoints at all entrances to the village.
This incident comes within a broader context of violations affecting civilians in the area, as the practices accompanying the raid operations indicate a pattern of pressure and the spread of fear among residents from the Alawite community. This is recorded amid the continued occurrence of killings, kidnappings, and physical assaults against civilians, alongside the absence of accountability in areas under the control of the temporary authorities.
