1. Introduction
Following the collapse of the Syrian regime on 8 December 2024, Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) documented several abduction cases in various areas of Homs Governorate. The victims were seven civilians from the Alawite community. While four of the abduction incidents ended with the killing of the civilians, the fate of the remaining three remains unknown. The response from security authorities ranged from limited to nonexistent, amid conflicting information provided to the families, weak reporting mechanisms, and, in some cases, sectarian bias. These incidents were recorded between 10 January and 10 February 2025.
The General Security Service neglected one family’s complaint, even though they knew the identities of the kidnappers. Another family was blackmailed and forced to pay exorbitant sums of money in order to obtain information about the fate of one of their abducted relatives. Two families learned about the deaths of their loved ones by chance. One of the victims, a former conscript in the Syrian government forces, was abducted and killed despite holding a settlement card issued by the new authorities. This information is based on four detailed testimonies collected from the victims’ relatives. All of them requested that their identities and any other identifying details be kept confidential out of fear of reprisals. Therefore, pseudonyms have been used in this report.
The sectarian affiliation of the victims documented in this report, especially of the killings, strongly indicates that these acts were likely carried out on a sectarian basis. These incidents followed similar operations during which entire families – including women, children, and individuals hors de combat – were killed, with predominantly Alawite cities and villages targeted in particular between 6 and 10 March 2025, as reported by the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. Meanwhile, Amnesty International investigated 32 killings that occurred in the city of Baniyas between 8 and 9 March concluding that they were deliberate, targeted at the Alawite minority sect and unlawful. The organization attributed responsibility to militias affiliated with the transitional government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Additionally, Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) reported a tally of violence along the coast, indicating that it resulted in the deaths of 1,169 civilians, with 732 casualties in Latakia, 276 in Tartus, and 161 in Hama. In its latest statistics, published on March 29, 2025, the independent Civil Peace Group -Seen documented the deaths of 1,743 civilians on the Syrian coast between 6 and 10 March 2025.
It is worth recalling that the Syrian Transitional Government overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s regime on 8 December 2024 during Operation Deterrence of Aggression, which was launched by the now-dissolved Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in coordination with other opposition factions. Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former leader of HTS, was appointed president on 29 January 2025.
Monitoring and verification carried out by the STJ team – through tracking reports of kidnappings and killings of Alawites by unidentified actors on social media platforms and news websites – suggest that the cases documented in this report are likely part of a broader pattern of similar violations that have occurred across various regions of Syria during the first three months of the transitional government’s rule.
STJ team has documented the kidnappings and killings of civilians Basil Samih Fattah and Abdullah Hussam al-Din al-Na’im, as well as the disappearance of a third civilian, Hassan Issa al-Ahmed, who was kidnapped in Homs. Additionally, the team reported the kidnapping and killing of civilian Hussein Zayoud in Latakia and a similar incident in Damascus involving Dr. Hassan Ibrahim, a scientist at the Scientific Research Center. All of the victims are Alawites.
The Civil Peace Group -Seen reported a total of 68 kidnappings in Homs Governorate between 9 December 2024 and 7 February 2025. Of these incidents, 21 resulted in victims’ deaths, and ransom demands were made in three cases. Additionally, a BBC report detailed the experiences of two civilians from Homs who faced torture and death threats while held by their kidnappers.
In the same context, on 31 January 2025, the STJ team documented the field execution of 10 individuals by unidentified gunmen in the Alawite village of Arza, located in the countryside of Hama. Earlier, on 23 January 2025, the organization confirmed the execution of 16 people in a single day in the Alawite village of Fahel, in the Homs countryside. This latter incident took place during a security campaign launched by the General Security forces, which targeted Fahel and several other areas in western Homs, particularly affecting the local Alawite community.
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