ISTANBUL - Amnesty International has documented massacres against Alawites in Syria and called on the Syrian government to hold the perpetrators to account.
Amnesty International made a written statement on the attacks and massacres against Alawites in Syria. Stating that an investigation was conducted into the massacres, Amnesty said that they interviewed witnesses, analysed satellite images and documented the deliberate killing of Alawite civilians by militias loyal to the government.
"The Syrian government must ensure that the perpetrators of a wave of mass killings targeting Alawite civilians in coastal areas are held accountable and take immediate steps to ensure that no person or group is targeted on the basis of their sect," Amnesty International's media service said in a statement released under the headline "Coastal massacres of Alawite civilians must be investigated as war crimes".
'MUST BE HELD TO ACCOUNT'
According to information received by Amnesty International, government militias killed more than 100 people in the coastal town of Banias on 8-9 March 2025. The organisation investigated 32 of the killings and concluded that they were deliberate, unlawful attacks targeting the Alawite minority sect. 16 people were interviewed. The Evidence Lab analysed satellite imagery. It verified nine videos and photos shared with investigators or posted on social media between 7-21 March 2025, and analysed weapons. Witnesses said that gunmen asked people if they were Alawites before threatening or killing them, and in some cases blamed them for violations committed by the former government. Families of victims were forced by the authorities to bury their loved ones in mass graves without religious or public ceremonies.
“The perpetrators of this horrifying wave of brutal mass killings must be held accountable. Our evidence indicates that government affiliated militias deliberately targeted civilians from the Alawite minority in gruesome reprisal attacks – shooting individuals at close range in cold blood. For two days, authorities failed to intervene to stop the killings. Once again, Syrian civilians have found themselves bearing the heaviest cost as parties to the conflict seek to settle scores,” said Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) documented the unlawful killing of 420 civilians and demilitarised fighters, including 39 children, mostly by militias loyal to the authorities.
Witnesses, whose real names were not used for their safety, described their experiences to Amnesty International reads:
Samira told Amnesty International that a group of armed men raided her home at around 10am on 9 March and killed her husband, shooting him in the head. One of the men asked her and her husband whether they were Alawite and then blamed the death of his brother on the Alawite community. She said: 'I begged them not take [my husband]. I explained that we had nothing to do with killings that happened in the past or the death of his brother.' She said that the men took her husband to the roof, telling him they would show him how Alawites had killed Sunnis. After they left, she said: 'I went to the roof and saw his body. I had to flee for my life and begged my neighbour to protect the body.' Amnesty International reviewed six images showing his body, which had an observable head wound, lying in a pool of blood.
In addition to her husband, Samira said that her neighbour’s husband, who was in his late 70’s, and her brother-in-law were also killed.
At around 11am on 8 March, Ahmad received a phone call from his relative informing him that armed men raided his home and shot his father, who was in his late 60’s. He said: 'My mother told me that four armed men entered our home early in the morning. Their first question was if [my family members] were Alawite.' The men began beating Ahmad’s brother, and his father tried to stop them. '[My father] was ordered to turn away… As he did, an armed man shot him in the back with the bullet exiting his chest… 20 minutes later, they came back and took the body.' Amnesty International reviewed a video showing blood scattered on the floor, which belonged to his father, according to Ahmad.
Ahmad said that another close relative had to search through bodies at a nearby hospital, in the presence of armed men, multiple times until they were able to find his father’s body. A medical worker confirmed to Amnesty International that they received scores of bodies from militias, SARC and civil defense teams, which were kept in the hospital in Banias, most outside the mortuary refrigerator, in piles. Families had to search through bodies to find their loved ones.
Seven interviewees told Amnesty International that they or their relatives were not allowed by authorities to bury family members killed in al-Qusour neighbourhood according to religious rites, in a location of their choosing, or through a public ceremony. Instead, bodies were piled up in an empty lot next to Sheikh Hilal cemetery close to the neighbourhood.