Syria’s Alawite communities are facing a new wave of violence, particularly in central regions and the western coastal areas, leaving at least 18 people dead in less than 48 hours. The escalation includes roadside executions, abductions, and arson attacks, with no official response so far from the country’s leadership.

One of the most brutal incidents occurred when a minibus carrying seven Alawite workers from their jobs in Barzeh, near Damascus, was ambushed on its return route. Six of the passengers, five restaurant workers and the bus driver, were found dead, while the seventh remains missing. Initially believed to be kidnapped, their families reported them missing before the bodies were discovered in the abandoned vehicle.

In addition, another public transport minibus was attacked in broad daylight near the village of Rabia in Hama countryside. The area is controlled by a hardline faction affiliated with the Defense Ministry. 10 people, including three women, were killed on the spot. Shocking footage filmed by members of Syria’s Security Forces appeared to confirm that the attack came from the checkpoint controlled by the same faction. Yet, like the previous incident, there has been no official statement or investigation.

Further violence erupted near the coastal city of Jableh, where the villages of Dalyeh and Beit Ana were raided by armed groups linked to the newly formed Defense Ministry. Three villagers were killed and others kidnapped, while homes, shops, vehicles, a school, and a sports club were torched and vandalized.

Amid this chaos, the Syrian authorities imposed a curfew on the two villages, claiming it was a response to an alleged attack on an empty telecommunications building. However, local sources revealed to Al-Akhbar that “the real motive was an attempt to expel a hardline faction stationed in the nearby village of Qurfays, which repeatedly launched assaults on surrounding villages and defied earlier withdrawal orders.”

Residents dismissed the official narrative and called for independent investigative committees to visit the scene and uncover the truth. The Syrian authorities later announced the end of the curfew, as well as arresting some of “those involved in the attack on the communications center.” However, Local sources explained that “Syrian Security forces entered the villages, with heavy gunfire causing fear among the residents, carrying out house raids, and arrested four young men whose whereabouts remain unknown.”

Local sources insist that the hardline faction remains entrenched in Qurfays. The village, whose residents rely heavily on agriculture, faced ongoing night curfews and movement restrictions since March, when it was hit by a wave of systematic forced displacements during the coastal massacres.

These new attacks open the door to several possibilities, especially amid a declared commitment by the transitional leadership to protecting civil peace and the formation of a specialized committee for that purpose in the coastal region, along with the establishment of a committee to investigate the massacres.

However, comments by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani and the transitional Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa have already preempted the results by blaming “remnants of the former regime.” The simplest of these possibilities is the continued failure of the authorities to fulfill their obligation to protect civilians, particularly in light of the unprecedented rise of extremist factions affiliated with the Defence Ministry, whom the US endorsed for it to be absorbed into Syria’s army.

Al Akhbar

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