The violence began after armed insurgents loyal to the ousted Assad regime attacked, captured and killed hundreds<\/a> of members of the new government\u2019s security forces on the afternoon of March 6. Over the course of the multi-day security operation and house-to-house raids that followed, mass killings took place in more than 30<\/a> Alawite-majority communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n A subsequent United Nations report<\/a> described the violence as \u201cwidespread and systematic,\u201d including \u201ctargeting based on religious affiliation, age and gender, and collective executions,\u201d while it found \u201cno evidence of a governmental policy or plan to carry out such attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the worst violence was in and around Baniyas, where hundreds<\/a> were killed in Alawite neighborhoods and nearby villages over the span of three days. In 2013, the city\u2019s Sunni Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood and the neighboring village of Bayda were also the site of mass killings<\/a> by Assad regime security forces and pro-regime militias against hundreds<\/a> of civilians.\u00a0<\/p>\n One year after the latest killings, members of the Alawite community in Baniyas continue to grapple with deep grief and traumatic memories. \u201cWe went through hell, it was a bloodbath in both speed and monstrosity,\u201d Jaber Aboud, 70, told Syria Direct at his home in Baniyas. His niece and her husband were both killed on March 7, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n Starting the night of March 7, Aboud\u2019s home was raided by five separate groups of armed men, he recalled, including a group of foreign fighters he believed to be Uyghurs and Uzbeks based on their appearance and accents.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy brother and I faced death five times. One group entered the house, turned it upside down, asked me if we were Alawite or Muslim, then called us \u2018Alawite dogs.\u2019 They held guns to our heads\u2014we were waiting for the time of our execution,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jaber Aboud stands in front of his sweets shop in downtown Baniyas, 7\/3\/2026 (Karam Alhindi\/Syria Direct)<\/p>\n Aboud was opposed to the former Assad regime and participated in protests during the revolution, for which he was one of the first people in Baniyas to be arrested and tortured by regime security forces. Then, in 2013, he helped one of his Sunni employees at his sweets shop flee to opposition-controlled areas after sheltering him for two months in his home, he said. The young man went on to join the opposition faction Jabhat al-Nusra in Idlib, which later became Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).\u00a0<\/p>\n On the night of March 6\u2014hours after the attack on government security forces\u2014the same young man came to Aboud\u2019s home and told him the situation was dangerous and he should leave, saying he could not protect him if he stayed. The following day, the man took Aboud\u2019s wife, son and 10 other family members to his own home for their safety, but Aboud and his brother chose to stay. \u201cAs an opponent of the Assad regime, I didn\u2019t expect to be targeted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In the following days and weeks, Aboud and his neighbors collected corpses and brought them to the cemetery. \u201cI saw entire families that had been killed, including children\u2014many of the bodies were unrecognizable,\u201d he said. \u201cThose who were killed were simple, educated, cultured and kind.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Fear is dominating our lives\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cFear is dominating our lives, there are no assurances that something won\u2019t happen [again],\u201d Siba, 27, said, asking to be identified only by her first name. She lost dozens of friends and neighbors during the massacres. \u201cWe knew everyone who died.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She escaped thanks to a Sunni neighbor, who brought her and some of her female relatives to the home of another family member. He gave them scarves to cover their hair and \u201ctold the armed men at the checkpoints\u2014who asked us if we were Sunni or Alawite\u2014that we were his sisters and daughters,\u201d she recounted. \u201cHe showed them his identity card that says he was born in [the former opposition-controlled area of] Ghouta, and we passed through the checkpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n Siba sits in her pharmacy in downtown Baniyas, 7\/3\/2026 (Karam Alhindi\/Syria Direct)<\/p>\n While a year has passed, \u201cthe pain has remained as is because killings have continued on a daily basis, especially in Homs and Hama,\u201d said Adnan Hassan, 61, a lawyer and longtime opponent of the Assad regime who lives in Baniyas. He escaped the violence last March because a neighbor told men who came to the building that it was empty except for her, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the past several months, a pattern of motorcycle ride-by killings has been documented in Homs and Hama, concentrated in Alawite areas, according to media and human rights reports<\/a>. In Homs, at least 30<\/a> civilians have been killed in similar attacks since the start of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe government calls them \u2018individual cases,\u2019 implying they\u2019re not systematic. Is it possible that they haven\u2019t been able to catch a single killer over the span of a year and a half?,\u201d Hassan asked.<\/p>\n Few arrests have been made in connection with the pattern of what are sometimes referred to as \u201cmobile killings.\u201d In one recent case, the February 12 killing of Wasim al-Ashqar in Homs city, Syrian security forces arrested<\/a> suspects the following day. A source at the Ministry of Interior later told<\/a> Syrian news site Enab Baladi that the detainees confessed to killing al-Ashqar to steal his car.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read more: Extrajudicial killings of Alawites plague Homs city<\/a><\/p>\n Hassan was previously a member of the Syrian Communist Party (Political Bureau) and Communist Labor Party, both of which were outlawed under Hafez al-Assad. During the revolution, he provided legal assistance to members of the opposition and was interrogated by the intelligence branches multiple times.<\/p>\n Aboud voiced similar concerns, saying \u201cthere\u2019s no feeling of security, there\u2019s more than despair\u2014we are living under the rule of revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Aboud and Siba acknowledged that the security situation has improved on the coast over the past year. \u201cToday, general security is protecting us,\u201d Siba said. \u201cIn Qadmous, where my family is from, they are very polite and professional\u2014they\u2019re calming down the social situation and holding dialogue with community leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSecurity is better than at first, but crime is rising due to the economic situation,\u201d Aboud said. The Syrian coast has been disproportionately affected by the dissolution of the former army and layoffs of hundreds of thousands<\/a> of public sector employees. In addition, pensions for military personnel who served during the war have been stopped until cases can be reviewed<\/a> on an individual basis to identify those who committed crimes.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt will create a huge problem\u2014economic and social problems will spread, with a risk of provoking renewed violence,\u201d Aboud warned.<\/p>\n A mourner at Sheikh Hilal Cemetery prays over the grave of a loved one lost during the March 2025 killings in Baniyas, 7\/3\/2026 (Karam Alhindi\/Syria Direct)<\/p>\n Accountability<\/p>\n Last November, the Syrian government launched<\/a> its first trial for suspects accused of committing violations during the violence on the coast last March, marking the first step towards legal accountability.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among the 298<\/a> pro-government perpetrators and 265<\/a> pro-Assad perpetrators referred for prosecution by a Damascus-appointed fact-finding committee last July, seven from each side are being tried.<\/p>\n Read more: \u2018Unprecedented\u2019: Syria launches first trial over deadly coastal violence<\/a><\/p>\n Three<\/a> court sessions have been held so far, but no rulings<\/a> have been made yet. Siba, Aboud and Hassan dismissed the hearings as \u201cpure theater.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to know who gave the orders to carry out the massacres\u2014the officers must be tried, rather than the rank-and-file,\u201d Siba said. Last September, a joint investigation<\/a> by Human Rights Watch, Syrians for Truth and Justice and the Syrian Archive \u201cdid not uncover direct orders to commit violations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n At the same time, the report underscored that the killings unfolded amid a \u201ccentrally coordinated military operation overseen by the Ministry of Defense\u201d and held that \u201cthe scale, duration, and consistency of the documented abuses make clear they were not isolated incidents.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The UN Commission of Inquiry\u2019s report<\/a> released the previous month detailed similar findings while calling on the Syrian government to \u201cpursue accountability for all perpetrators, regardless of affiliation or rank.\u201d<\/p>\n Last Friday, the Commission applauded<\/a> Damascus\u2019s \u201cpositive engagement\u201d over the past year, stressing that \u201ctransparency, accountability, security sector reform and engagement with impacted communities is key to upholding the rule of law, the rights of victims and building trust.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Syria Direct reached out to the Syrian Ministry of Interior during the course of this reporting, but received no response by the time of publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n Seagulls fly along the shore in Baniyas, a city in Syria\u2019s coastal Tartous province, 7\/3\/2026 (Karam Alhindi\/Syria Direct)<\/p>\n How to build trust?<\/p>\n After the Assad regime fell in December 2024, Siba, Aboud and Hassan were among dozens of activists who created civil society initiatives to carry out intercommunity dialogue and issue demands for the transitional period, which largely collapsed following last year\u2019s killings.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were no political activities under the regime, when it fell we were very optimistic,\u201d Siba recalled. \u201cWe advocated for transitional justice for all sects, administrative reforms, and pluralism.\u201d<\/p>\n In January 2025, Aboud met with the interim governor of Tartous, Anas Ayrout. \u201cI told him only the state can protect Alawites, not external backers. If the state can be built, Alawites will be with them,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, they are men with no experience in the state\u2014the country needs a lot of help to build the state. We want a state that we feel represents us.\u201d<\/p>\n Integral to state-building is the building of democratic institutions, Siba said. \u201cI don\u2019t feel represented at all\u2014there haven\u2019t been elections for me to elect someone who represents me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Last October, Syria held an indirect vote to select two thirds of the members of parliament, with the remaining third yet to be appointed by President Ahmad al-Sharaa. The single representative selected from Baniyas, Amjad Akram Ali<\/a>, is Alawite.<\/p>\n \u201cThose they appointed to parliament only represent themselves\u2014there\u2019s no meaningful representation of Alawites, even of those of us who were against the regime,\u201d Hassan echoed. \u201cNo one took our opinion\u2014it was a decision made from above, we don\u2019t know how they chose candidates.\u201d Elections to appoint<\/a> members of parliament were indirect, with little transparency regarding how the list of final candidates were selected.<\/p>\n Read more: Mixed reactions as Syria holds indirect vote for first post-Assad parliament<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Transitional justice efforts have seemingly stalled since the Assad regime fell more than a year ago. \u201cThe state is not serious about transitional justice\u2014it\u2019s catastrophic for the state and society. You don\u2019t bring the big heads and make settlements with them,\u201d Hassan said.<\/p>\n A series of multi-million dollar settlements have been made between the Syrian government and prominent regime businessmen in recent months\u2014including with sanctioned figures such as Muhammad Hamsho<\/a> and Samer Foz<\/a>\u2014although criminal charges can still be brought against them. In the absence of transitional justice, \u201cthey\u2019ve opened the door for revenge,\u201d Hassan stressed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe National Commission for Transitional Justice is only ink on paper, they\u2019re only conducting consultations,\u201d Hassan said, adding \u201cthey must include crimes committed after the regime\u2019s fall.\u201d Syria\u2019s de facto constitution, the 2025 constitutional declaration, only explicitly references<\/a> crimes committed by the Assad regime.<\/p>\n Residents have also called for increased integration of Alawites into the government\u2019s forces. \u201cWe need members of all communities to be represented in the security forces,\u201d Hassan said. \u201cThe army still operates as factions, there is only symbolic nor real integration.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Local sources from the Internal Security Forces (also known as general security) told Syria Direct that of the 400-450 members of the Internal Security Forces serving in Baniyas, 50 of them\u2013between 11 and 12 percent\u2014are newly integrated Alawite members who previously served under the Assad regime\u2019s security forces.\u00a0<\/p>\n A total of 1,000 Alawites are set to integrate the security forces across Tartous province, the same sources said. Until now, no former members of the Assad regime army\u2014from any community\u2014who were active during the war have been reintegrated, they added. \u201cMembers of the army who are clean, who didn\u2019t hurt or kill anyone, should be brought back,\u201d Siba said<\/p>\n Hassan also described last year\u2019s National Dialogue Conference as \u201ctheatrical.\u201d In February 2025, the one-day conference<\/a> developed a series of recommendations for Syria\u2019s transitional government, including on the topic of transitional justice. However, the event was widely critiqued for being too short.<\/p>\n \u201cIt should have lasted up to three months. The government must revisit national dialogue as there was exclusion, even the Sunni elite was not represented,\u201d he said. \u201cThe political system must come out of the national dialogue\u2014if there is no return to national dialogue, there will not be a vision for the future that expresses the most basic needs and ambitions of the people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDemocratic reforms will give people energy, allowing them to feel they are part of the state,\u201d Hassan added.<\/p>\n![\"Jaber](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BaniyasNDKA-5-800x600.jpg\")
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