section_path: Abstract
section_name: Abstract
paragraph_text: A series of mass killings and massacres against Alawites occurred in Syria from 6 March 2025 to 17 March 2025, with a resurgence in early April. They were part of communal and sectarian violence by fighters aligned with the Syrian caretaker government (including locally mobilised civilians, Syrian National Army (SNA) militias and Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah), in addition to armed remnants of the former Assad regime against Sunnis. The typical pattern of the attacks involved armed gunmen showing up at civilians' doors, interrogating them by asking whether they are Alawite or Sunni, and then targeting and killing them based solely on their response. The events followed large-scale attacks by pro-Assad insurgents on 6 March as well as the ongoing clashes in Western Syria in the Syrian civil war.
  
  As of 17 March 2025, the UK-based independent monitoring group Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reported that 1,084 people, including civilians and fighters, were killed in the clashes since 6 March. According to their documentation, at least 639 people, including civilians and disarmed combatants have been killed by forces aligned with the Syrian transitional government. Armed remnants of the former Assad regime were also responsible for the deaths of at least 231 civilians. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that 1,614 civilians were killed by armed militias supporting the Syrian government between 6 March 2025 and 12 March 2025.
  
  Especially deadly massacres began in early March 2025 in Latakia Governorate, where, according to the SOHR, Syrian security forces killed hundreds of civilians over the span of two days, including 52 Alawite individuals in the towns of Al-Mukhtariya and Al-Shir in rural Latakia alone. These events took place during a period of heightened tensions and armed clashes between Syrian transitional government forces and militants that are loyal to former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as described by Syrian authorities. Despite assurances by new government officials that minorities would be safe in the new Syria, Alawite communities have been subject to a number of massacres since December 2024.
  
  Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa denied responsibility in March 2025 for the attacks. In his speech, al-Sharaa said that "remnants of the former regime" had no choice but to surrender immediately as he vowed to hold accountable "anyone involved in civilian bloodshed". He later vowed to punish anyone involved in the killings, saying that Assad loyalists and associated foreign powers committed the killings as means to destabilize the Syrian state and restart civil war. His office stated that it would create an independent committee to determine culpability for the violence. On 10 March 2025, the Syrian government announced the end of counter-insurgency operations after expelling pro-Assad insurgents from "vital centres" and re-establishing control over most of the roadways in the coastal region.