Sectarian Violence Sweeps Syria as Western-backed Security Forces Rampage in Alawite Towns

Social media is awash with videos of HTS-led Syrian government forces executing unarmed Alawites in cold blood

News Desk

MAR 8, 2025

At least 147 people have been killed in Syria in the past two days, as security forces from the country's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – led government carried out a series of massacres and extrajudicial executions against Alawites in the country's coastal regions as part of a broader security campaign to target remnants of the former Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

Videos of many instances of extrajudicial killings have been posted to social media showing HTS militants from the government of Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former Al-Qaeda in Iraq commander, killing unarmed Alawites in cold blood.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), 69 of those killed were Alawite minority members executed by security forces, while the rest included government security personnel (of the Sunni sect), and members of the former Syrian army (of the Alawite sect), and civilians caught in the clashes.  

Among those killed were 15 Alawite men who were executed by HTS forces in the village of al-Muktariyya on 7 March. "It is not clear what or if any criteria was used for their execution," Syria expert Joshua Landis wrote on the social media site X.

Landis added, "This sort of undirected killing is widespread now in Alawite villages. People are terrified."

Another 20 were killed by HTS militants in the village of Al-Haffeh in the Latakia countryside, with their bodies stacked in a group in an unfinished building. They appear to have been lined up and killed in an orderly manner.

Gunmen thought to be affiliated with the HTS-led government are also storming civilian houses in Alawite villages and killing their occupants, including as far away as the town of Waroud in the northern Damascus countryside, local sources speaking with The Cradle said.

The local Alawite families in Waroud had been previously disarmed by the security forces. Last night, the roads accessing the town were closed, preventing any Alawite families from leaving. Gunmen linked to the new HTS government went from house to house, killing residents this morning, sources told The Cradle.

Friday's clashes erupted after remnants of the former army conducted ambushes and attacks on members of Syria's Military Operations Command earlier this week, prompting the new government to mobilize reinforcements to be deployed across the coastal regions of Latakia and Tartous for a sweeping security operation.

SOHR added that government security forces launched a major offensive on Qardaha, the hometown of former President Bashar al-Assad, after fighters of the former government reportedly seized several villages.

Tanks and armored vehicles have been deployed in an effort to regain control of the areas. Earlier, government forces recaptured Baniyas, a strategic coastal city. Meanwhile, Jableh remains under near-total government control, though armed resistance persists in the mountainous regions along the coastline, SOHR said.

HTS forces have controlled Baniyas city after forcing the remnants of the former army to withdraw. Government forces are currently combing the city's outskirts and the highway using heavy artillery and machine guns, the rights monitor added.