- Government-affiliated militia intentionally kill civilians of the Alave minority
- The Syrian government must ensure independent, effective investigations of these illegal killings and other war crimes
- Truth, justice and reparation are crucial to ending the cycle of atrocities
Amnesty International said the Syrian government must ensure that the perpetrators of the massive killing wave targeting civilians in Alavet along the coast are held accountable and take immediate measures to ensure that no one or group targets their denominations.
According to information received by Amnesty International, militias affiliated with the government killed more than 100 people in the coastal city of Banias from March 8 to 9, 2025. The group has investigated 32 murders and concluded that they were intentional, targeting the Alavian minority and illegal.
Witnesses told Amnesty International that armed personnel asked if people were Alavets before threatening or killing them, and in some cases they appeared to blame them for the violations committed by the former government. Authorities forced the victim’s families to bury their loved ones at large-scale burial sites without religious rituals or public rituals.
“The perpetrators of this brutal wave of murder must be held responsible. Our evidence shows that the government has affiliated militias deliberately targeting civilians in the Alawian minority with a creepy retaliation attack – shooting individuals in close range in cold blood. Shooting in cold blood. Two days of authorities in two days of Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard.
“Intentional killing of civilians or intentional killing of injured, surrendered or captured fighter jets is a war crime. States are obliged to ensure a swift, independent, effective and impartial investigation of allegations of illegal killing and put international criminals in liability.
Without justice, Syria has the potential to fall into a cycle of further atrocities and bloodshed.
Agnès Callamard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International
“Syrians have already endured more than a decade of impunity for the grave violence and mass atrocities by Assad’s government and armed groups. The latest massacres targeting the Alawite minority create new scars in a country already burdened by too many unhealed wounds. It is critical that the new authorities deliver truth and justice for the victims of these crimes, to signal a break with the past and zero tolerance for attacks on miniritities. Without justice, Syria risk falling into a cycle of further atrocities and bloodshed.”
On March 6, 2025, armed groups affiliated with the former government led by President Bashar al-Assad carried out several coordinated attacks on the Coastal Governor of Latakia and the Coastal Governor of Tartous. In response, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior launched a counterattack with support for the militia, resulting in escalating violence. By March 8, authorities announced that they had regained control of all affected areas.
In the days that followed, militias associated with the current government deliberately killed the Alaveite civilians in coastal towns and cities, including the city of Benias, the site of the 2013 massacre widely reported by the Bashar Assad government.
On March 9, President Ahmed Al-Sharaa promised to hold the perpetrators of the crime responsible, set up a fact-finding committee to investigate incidents on the coast and a higher committee to maintain civil peace. Although the fact-finding Committee appears to be an active step to establish what happened and identify suspicious perpetrators, the authorities must ensure that the Committee has the mandate, authority, expertise and resources to effectively investigate these killings. This should include the ability to acquire and protect witnesses and families of victims, as well as access to the Tomis burial site and the required forensic expertise. They should also ensure that the Commission has sufficient time to complete the investigation.
Amnesty International interviewed 16 people, including five people living in the city of Benias, seven people in other areas of the coast, two in other areas of Syria, and two outside Syria.
Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Laboratory validated nine videos and photos shared with researchers, or posted on social media between March 7 and 21, 2025, to perform weapons analysis and analyze satellite images.
Amnesty International interviewed nine people, including five residents of the city of Benias, who reported that 32 relatives and neighbors, including 24 men, 6 women and 2 children, were killed by government-affiliated militias from 8 to 9 March 2025. Of the 32 people, 32 were killed near Al-Qusour in Benias. Amnesty International also interviewed a medical staff member in Benias.
Respondents identified their close relatives and neighbors and described to Amnesty International how they were killed. The group also received the names of 16 civilians, whose relatives reported being intentionally killed in Latakia and in the tough countryside.
In late January 2025, after Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied opposition groups occupied Damascus, the Provisional Government announced that it would disband all armed factions and incorporate them into the government armed forces. The process is reportedly underway.
The United Nations believes that the number of people killed on the coast is much higher, but they are able to record the killing of 111 civilians, rulers of Latakia and Hama. According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, many of the recorded cases were reportedly executed by unidentified armed personnel, allegedly by members of armed groups and armed groups supporting the security forces of the caregiver authorities and the summary of elements related to the former government”. The Syrian Human Rights Network (SNHR) records illegal killings of 420 civilians and disarmed fighters (those fighting), including 39 children, were mainly affiliated with the authorities by the militia.
“In addition to ensuring independence, effective investigation and possession of the perpetrators of these terrible killings, the government is obliged to conduct a human rights review process. There is acceptable evidence that a person who is likely to commit serious human rights violations, that person shall not stay or have to place it in a possible position of violation,” Karamad said.
Illegal killing of civilians near Qusor in Benia
Four residents of the Al-Qusour community described how they heard heavy gunfire on March 7, 2025. The next day, dozens of militias associated with the current government entered the community. Then, the killing began. They continued from March 8 to 9.
Samira* told Amnesty International that a group of armed personnel raided her home around 10 a.m. on March 9, killing her husband and shooting him in the head. One of the men asked her and her husband if they were Alavet and blamed the death of his brother on the Alavet community. She said: “I beg them not to accept it.” [my husband]. I explained that we have nothing to do with the killings that happened in the past or the death of his brother. “The men brought their husbands to the rooftops and told him how the Alawians killed Sunnis. Amnesty International reviewed six images showing his body, whose body could be observed to the head, lying in a pool of blood.
In addition to her husband, Samira said her neighbor’s husband was also killed in the late 1970s.
Ahmad received a call from his relatives informing him that the armed personnel had raided his house and shot his father in the late 1960s. He said: “My mother told me that four armed men entered our home early in the morning. Their first problem was [my family members] It’s an Alawi. “These men began to defeat Ahmed’s brothers, and his father tried to stop them.[My father] Ordered to turn around… Just like he did, an armed man shot him in the back and the bullet stretched out his chest… 20 minutes later, they came back and took the body. ”According to Ahmed, Amnesty International reviewed a videotape showing blood scattered on his father’s floor.
Ahmad said another close relative had to search the bodies of a nearby hospital in the presence of armed personnel until they were able to find their father’s body. A medical worker confirmed to Amnesty International that they received dozens of bodies from militias, SARC and civil defense teams, which were kept in Benias’ hospitals, most of which were outside the morgue refrigerator. Family has to search for their bodies to find their loved ones.
Saed* visited his parents nearby on weekends. On the morning of March 8, the family heard the gunshots and fell silent. They think their lives are spared until the next day. At around 10 a.m., a group of armed personnel entered the building. They heard gunshots.
Saed [my family] Not there…and then I heard the armed person ask if my brother was Alavet or Sunni. My brother answered, but his voice was shaking. My second brother stepped in and told them: “Take whatever you want, but leave us”. Then I heard my father’s voice and it sounded like they took them downstairs. ” Afterwards, he heard the gunshots.
A few minutes later, Saed found the body of his 75-year-old father, while his brothers, 31 and 48, shot dead at the entrance to the building. Images reviewed by Amnesty International show three bodies that appear to be located outside the residential building.
Witnesses told Amnesty International that many of the people suspected of killing were Syrians, but some of them were foreigners.
According to residents, authorities did not intervene to end the killings and did not provide residents with a safe route to escape armed personnel. Two residents told Amnesty International that they had to walk at least 15 kilometers in the woods to seek safety. The other three said the only way they escaped was that they were eventually able to ride from HTS, a former armed group that was incorporated into the government armed forces.
“I saw hundreds of corpses”
Seven respondents told Amnesty International that authorities did not allow them or their relatives to bury their families killed near Qusour based on religious rituals, at their chosen location or through public rituals. Instead, in a clearing area next to Sheikh Hilar Cemetery nearby, the bodies piled up in an empty place.
SAED* said security forces dug an empty thing next to the cemetery and lined up the bodies. During the funeral, he was not allowed to take photos or other family members were present. “I saw hundreds of corpses,” he said. “I buried my brother alone [on 10 March]. The bodies were adjacent to each other, between each other, and then the truck covered the grave with soil. ”
Amnesty International’s Evidence Laboratory verified four photos of the burial site in the Qusour neighborhood, which shows graves marked in informal ways. Satellite images confirm that the ground in the area was scratched between March 8 and 10, 2025.
According to international humanitarian law, the dead should be buried according to the rituals that belong to their religion, in principle, religious rituals.
