On 18 December 2025, it was reported that an attack took place involving the destruction of graves belonging to members of the Alawite sect inside Tal Sakin al-Qa‘adah Cemetery, located in the western countryside of Hama Governorate in Syria.
According to the information received, a number of grave markers inside the cemetery were smashed and broken, constituting a direct assault on burial sites. This act is considered a blatant violation of human dignity after death and an infringement on the sanctity of cemeteries as places that enjoy social and religious protection.
The identities of the perpetrators had not been definitively determined as of the time this report was prepared; however, the attack comes within the context of similar incidents attributed to unknown groups with a takfiri character.
This attack occurs amid sectarian and religious tensions and intersects with a recurring pattern of violations targeting cemeteries and burial sites belonging to different religious components in Syria. Other areas witnessed, during the same period, incidents of vandalism of cemeteries belonging to members of the Shiite sect, such as in the village of al-Hazimiyah in the northern countryside of Homs on 16 December 2025, where grave markers were smashed and some graves were exhumed, in incidents documented by video footage that sparked widespread condemnation.
Targeting cemeteries in this context is viewed as acts carrying a sectarian dimension, aimed at spreading religious hatred and inciting discord by assaulting symbols of religious identity and the collective memory of the targeted groups, including the violation of the sanctity of their dead.
The vandalism of cemeteries and the destruction of grave markers constitute a violation of freedom of religious belief and an assault on human dignity after death, particularly when the attack targets the cemeteries of a specific religious group. Such acts place these actions within the framework of discrimination on religious grounds and classify them as human rights violations and hate crimes prohibited under relevant international instruments and standards.
