Date and Location:
On October 27, 2025, the Al-Zahriyat Housing area in Damascus witnessed a raid — the second such incident in the same month, following a previous operation on October 9, 2025.
Perpetrating Party:
The raid was carried out by an armed faction affiliated with the Syrian Interim Authority (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham), led by a man known as Abu Anas, assisted by the security officer Abu Hudhayfa, and with a non-public appearance by Abu al-Nur.
The force consisted of three pickup trucks and a large number of fully armed fighters.
Nature of Violations:
Storming and searching homes in a brutal manner.
Questioning residents about their sectarian affiliations and insulting them with sectarian slurs targeting the Alawite community.
Terrorizing children and filming family searches in ways that violated children’s rights and human dignity.
Breaking and forcing open locked house doors.
Giving residents an impossible deadline until the next morning to vacate their homes.
Confiscating seven mobile phones (most belonging to women) and forcing them to unlock their passcodes.
Beating several young men with rifle butts and transferring them to the hospital.
Response of the Perpetrators to Objections:
When residents protested, members of the faction replied that the decision was final and that they were the ones in charge, saying there was no need for the governor’s involvement. They threatened to “deal with him by force” should he come.
General Context:
This raid comes as part of ongoing attempts to forcibly displace residents of the area. The previous operation on October 9, 2025, involved threats of forced eviction and property confiscation against Alawite residents, along with verbal and physical violence.
In a similar incident in the Al-Sumariyah neighborhood, an armed faction issued an evacuation warning to residents of the Arab houses behind the Al-Zahriyat military housing, threatening to demolish the homes over their occupants’ heads. Residents appealed to authorities to find a solution to the crisis.
A video posted on October 10, 2025, shows a female resident of Al-Zahriyat in Damascus calling on the authorities to stop the forced displacement operations.
