The city of Latakia witnessed security tensions on the evening of 29 December 2025, accompanied by attacks targeting property and individuals from the Alawite sect, amid an escalation of sectarian violence in several areas of the Syrian coast and western regions of the country.
According to circulated video footage, supporters of the interim authority represented by “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham” carried out attacks using bladed weapons and sticks against neighborhoods inhabited by Alawites in the city of Latakia. The clips showed the attackers chanting sectarian slogans and insults, smashing shops belonging to Alawite citizens, and assaulting young men and passersby with knives.
On the morning of 30 December, other videos circulated showing the smashing of the windows of a large number of cars parked on the streets.
Following these events, Sheikh Ghazal Ghazal, head of the Supreme Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and the diaspora, called in an audio recording dated 29 December for members of the Alawite sect to remain in their homes and not be drawn into civil strife.
The attacks were not limited to the city of Latakia. Acts of violence and unrest were recorded in other Syrian areas, particularly those with an Alawite majority. These included the city of Jableh, where the destruction of property belonging to members of the Alawite sect was documented; in Masyaf, reports emerged of the killing of a young man on sectarian grounds; and in Damascus, specifically in the Jabal al-Ward area, an attack by armed groups was recorded against shops belonging to Alawite citizens.
These events coincided with an escalation in hate speech and public incitement. 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 inciting descriptions against protesters in the Syrian coast. According to the circulated content of the statements, al-Bab conflated the characterization of protesters and demonstrators on the one hand with labeling them as “remnants of the fallen regime” on the other, using language that involved discrimination and incitement, and considering that what occurred provided the security services with a database against those he described as “the snakes that came out of their holes.”
In the same context, content spread on social media platforms published by supporters of the interim authority, including images of a car used to run over demonstrators from the Alawite sect, accompanied by sarcastic comments of a sectarian nature glorifying the incident and mocking the victims. Accounts on the “X” platform also circulated information stating that one of the notables of the city of Idlib had undertaken to provide a new “Sportage” vehicle to the perpetrator of the ramming incident, in a scene reflecting normalization of violence and incitement to it.
On Sunday, 28 December 2025, cities along the Syrian coast and in western regions of the country witnessed widespread demonstrations in which civilians from the Alawite sect participated, in the cities of Latakia, Tartous, Jableh, Baniyas, and al-Qardaha, as well as the city of Homs and its countryside and areas of the Hama countryside.
The demonstrators raised demands related to federalism and political decentralization, and to stopping what they described as massacres committed against members of the sect. During these protests, incidents of gunfire and assaults occurred, and video footage showed deaths and injuries among the demonstrators. Clips also documented protesters being fired upon by the General Security forces التابعة to the interim authority “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham,” in addition to attacks carried out by supporters of the authority to disperse gatherings, as well as the establishment of security checkpoints and road closures in a number of cities and neighborhoods.
On 28 December 2025, General Security forces belonging to the interim authority “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham” arrested Sheikh Ali Mohammad Halahl, head of the Alawite Council in the city of Tartous, due to his participation in and supportive stance toward the demonstrations on the Syrian coast.
Following this, the Supreme Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and the diaspora issued a statement condemning the arrest of civilians, foremost among them Sheikh Halahl, considering that the arrest came because of his support for peaceful sit-ins and what it described as legitimate demands. It regarded the arrest as arbitrary and a violation of freedom of opinion and political and humanitarian stance, and called for his immediate release and that of all detainees.
These demonstrations came in response to a call launched by Sheikh Ghazal Ghazal on 27 December 2025, following the bombing that targeted the Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the city of Homs, which resulted in the killing of at least ten people and the injury of more than twenty others, all from the Alawite sect.
The sequence of events, from official hate speech to on-the-ground attacks and arrests, reflects a pattern of serious human rights violations, including sectarian incitement, the use of force against peaceful demonstrators, and arbitrary arrest on the basis of opinion and political stance, in a context marked by escalating sectarian tensions on the Syrian coast and in western regions of the country.
