The spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior of the interim authority “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham,” Nour al-Din al-Bab, made statements on the official “Al-Ikhbariyah” channel that included hate speech and clear incitement against demonstrators on the Syrian coast. Despite his attempt to present one narrative about the demonstrators and protesters and another about those he considered “remnants of the regime,” in other instances he conflated the two, as shown by the accompanying video.
Al-Bab said: “Unfortunately, these are Syrians and we share with them one homeland, but at the same time the very beautiful and wonderful aspect is that these are a small clique who are remnants of the defunct regime who have reactivated themselves and perhaps exploited a state of popular tension that exists in all countries, and exploited a movement opposing the state—this is a natural matter present in all countries and governments—and they wanted to remind us of their criminal and terrorist background. One of the merits of this matter is that it spared the Ministry of Interior and the security agencies a very large amount of work in terms of data collection and intelligence, because the snakes that appeared today from their holes relieved us greatly and formed for us a very strong database that will, God willing, be a starting point for us in the coming days,” affirming that the protests “emerged as a result of separatist calls and sought to exploit the failure of the remnants of the defunct regime to hold power.”
In the same context, content circulated on social media platforms published by supporters of the interim authority included images of a car used to run over demonstrators from the Alawite sect, accompanied by sarcastic comments of a sectarian nature that glorified the incident and mocked the victims. Accounts on the “X” platform also circulated information stating that one of the notables in the city of Idlib undertook to provide a new “Sportage” vehicle to the perpetrator of the ramming incident, in a context that shows normalization with violence and incitement to it.
On Sunday, 28 December 2025, cities on the Syrian coast and in the west of the country witnessed wide demonstrations in which civilians from the Alawite sect participated. Protests took place in the cities of Latakia and Tartous, as well as Jableh, Baniyas, and al-Qardaha, and also in the city of Homs and its countryside and areas of the Hama countryside.
During the demonstrations, protesters raised demands related to federalism and political decentralization, and to stopping what they described as massacres committed against members of the sect.
The demonstrations were accompanied by incidents of gunfire and assaults and, according to circulating video footage on the internet, resulted in deaths and injuries among the demonstrators. Video clips showed protesters being subjected to gunfire by General Security forces affiliated with the interim authority “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham,” in addition to assaults carried out by supporters of the authority against peaceful demonstrators in attempts to disperse the gatherings. The establishment of security checkpoints and road closures was also recorded in a number of cities and neighborhoods of the Syrian coast and the western countryside of Homs.
The victims are civilians participating in peaceful demonstrations, all from the Alawite sect, who went out to express political and rights-related demands and to protest what they described as targeting on the basis of sectarian identity. The facts indicate that the violence used against them took on a discriminatory character, whether through gunfire, ramming incidents, or subsequent inciting rhetoric.
On 28 December 2025, General Security forces affiliated with the interim authority “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham” arrested Sheikh Ali Muhammad Halhal, head of the Alawite Council in the city of Tartous, due to his participation in and supportive stance toward the demonstrations in the Syrian coastal regions.
Subsequently, the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora issued a statement condemning the arrest of civilians, foremost among them Sheikh Ali Muhammad Halhal, considering that the arrest came because of his support for the peaceful sit-ins and the demands it described as legitimate. The council considered what occurred to constitute arbitrary detention and a violation of freedom of opinion and political and humanitarian stance, calling for the immediate release of Sheikh Halhal and all detainees.
These demonstrations came in response to a call launched by Sheikh Ghazal Ghazal, head of the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora, on 27 December 2025, following the bombing that targeted the Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the city of Homs. The bombing resulted in the killing of at least ten people and the injury of more than twenty others, all of them from the Alawite sect.
The sequence of these events—from official hate speech to field violence and arrests—reflects a pattern of serious human rights violations, including sectarian incitement, the use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, and arbitrary detention on the basis of opinion and political stance, in a context marked by escalating sectarian tensions on the Syrian coast and in the west of the country.
