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A Syrian investigation committee has identified nearly 300 individuals believed to be involved in a wave of sectarian violence in the country’s Alawite heartland earlier this year, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,426 members of the minority community.
The committee’s findings, announced in Damascus on Tuesday, come amid renewed sectarian tensions, this time involving the Druze community. The unrest has raised doubts over the Islamist-led authorities’ capacity to maintain security and manage deep-rooted sectarian divisions following the December ousting of former president Bashar al-Assad, himself an Alawite who long portrayed himself as a defender of Syria’s minorities.
The violence in question occurred between March 7-9 along the country’s Alawite-dominated coastal region. Human rights monitors, including the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that government forces and aligned militias carried out widespread abuses, including summary executions, primarily targeting civilians. The Observatory has reported that the death toll may have exceeded 1,700.
Committee spokesperson Yasser al-Farhan detailed the scope of violations, which included murder, torture, looting, arson, and sectarian abuse. “We have confirmed the names of 1,426 victims, including 90 women, and most of them were civilians,” Farhan stated, while acknowledging that some additional deaths remain unverified. He added that 298 individuals had been provisionally identified as suspects.
Authorities have blamed the bloodshed on pro-Assad militias, accusing them of launching coordinated assaults that left 238 soldiers and security personnel dead in the provinces of Tartus, Latakia, and Hama. In response, around 200,000 pro-government fighters were deployed to the region, according to Farhan.
Locals expressed deep scepticism about the committee’s work. Jana Mustafa, a 24-year-old student from Banias whose father was among the dead, said the truth had been obvious from the start. “The mass graves, the cries of the victims — all of it made clear what happened,” she said, criticising the committee for offering what she saw as excuses for atrocities. “This wasn’t just a case of violations. It was an assault on an entire sect.”
Farhan said the committee carried out over 30 field visits, interviewed hundreds of victims and witnesses, and consulted local officials. He noted that many of the suspects were tied to specific military factions believed to have disobeyed orders and attacked civilians.
Rama Hussein, 22, who lost multiple family members in the Jableh area, was equally disheartened. “No one took my testimony. No one came to see us,” she said. “We don’t need press conferences — we need justice and compensation.”
Reports from rights groups claim families were targeted in their homes, with attackers allegedly asking victims about their religious affiliation before executing them. The committee’s chair, Jumaa al-Anzi, said that authorities helped identify suspects seen in videos of the violence, and that two lists of alleged perpetrators have been handed over to the judiciary.
President Ahmed al-Sharaa received the committee’s report on July 13, the same day that sectarian violence erupted in the Druze-majority province of Sweida, killing more than 1,200 people according to the Syrian Observatory. Amnesty International has called on Syrian authorities to publish the full report and ensure those responsible are prosecuted.
The committee’s report had initially been scheduled for release within one month, but was delayed until mid-July.
