Syria’s Coastal Region: Rise in targeted killings amid calls for accountability

Shafaq News / The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Friday a rise in incidents targeting civilians in Syria’s coastal areas, particularly within the Alawite community.

The group attributed the alleged abuses to armed elements affiliated with the Defense and Interior Ministries of the Syrian government.

According to SOHR, recent days have seen raids and arrests in the towns of Yahmour and Kharbat Ma’aza in the Tartous countryside, generating fear among residents. While no casualties were reported in those incidents, the organization said that in the village of Hbabah in the Dreikish area, several properties were vandalized and ten civilians were abducted. Their whereabouts remain unknown.

Since the start of 2025, SOHR has documented 629 cases of what it describes as “assassinations and revenge killings” across multiple Syrian provinces. The reported victims include 601 men, 20 women, and 8 children. The Observatory indicated that sectarian motives were suspected in many of the killings, particularly in the governorates of Homs, Hama, and Tartous.

In Homs, the case of Mira Jalal Thabat, a student at a teacher training institute in the Al-Dablan district, drew public attention after her disappearance and subsequent appearance in a video wearing a niqab beside a man. Syrian state media presented the case as a consensual marriage. However, SOHR cited sources suggesting the student vanished shortly after receiving a phone call from the institute’s director. Her father was reportedly detained following her disappearance and later released.