A Wave of Panic Sweeps the Coast – The Beginning of the Tragedy
Time feels swollen with pain, and breaking news falls like sparks that never die out.
On Thursday, July 2, 2025, security forces loyal to Ahmad Al-Shar’a launched coordinated raids into the coastal governorates of Latakia and Tartus – specifically targeting the village of Sheer in northern Latakia – under the pretext that its residents were remnants of groups loyal to the deposed president, Bashar al-Assad.
Hours pass heavy with stories of thousands of victims – young and old – with nothing reported except the rising number of deaths “because they are Alawites.”
No space for mourning, no shrouds worthy of the abandoned bodies, no graves with names or dates.
Only grief fills the Syrian coast… broken occasionally by the mocking laughter of armed men, now turned into a symbol of ruin.
Stories of Executions – “Because They Were Alawites”
The chain of killings on the Syrian coast begins in Sheer, where unidentified armed groups carried out a massacre officially attributed to “unknown perpetrators.”
According to Souad Mohammed from Latakia – along with other witnesses who requested anonymity – fighters coming from Idlib and Aleppo, affiliated with the General Security forces, stormed the area and executed around 69 unarmed civilians immediately after overrunning three neighborhoods.
Souad Mohammed (35 Years Old) speaks with tearful eyes:
“My father… they killed him just because he was Alawite, The killer is someone from my own town, He pointed his gun at my father’s chest and waist.
My cousin screamed: ‘Shoot him, Muhammad!’ They lifted my father, placed him on the couch, and told him: ‘Say your final prayer, uncle.’
He recited it… then died.
I never imagined we would be killed by people from our own village – people who suffered with us under the same regime.”
Time passes heavy with the stories of thousands of victims ,
Yet all anyone hears is: more deaths, “because they are Alawites
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, factions loyal to the interim Syrian government carried out widespread atrocities across the coast, with the death toll reaching 1,300 – amid an alarming media blackout and strict bans on filming or reporting, except for “approved” state-aligned outlets.
The chaos soon expanded into systematic looting, home burnings, and multiple kidnappings for ransom – no ransom below 5,000$.
Despite the scale of abuses, the interim government continues to describe these violations as “isolated, individual acts.”
In a report released on August 14, 2025, the UN Commission of Inquiry stated that the violence in the region during March was “systematic and widespread,” involving violations that may amount to war crimes.
Souad continues, her tears interrupting her words:
“The last message I sent my father… he never replied.
It was Ramadan; he was fasting.
When he didn’t answer, I thought he was reading the Qur’an like he always did.
I never imagined he was lying in a pool of blood – killed by men claiming to represent Islam through their beards and turbans.
I feel ashamed to say I’m Syrian… because if someone abroad asked me, ‘Who killed your father?’
What should I say? Someone from my own country?”
Absurdity in Official Reports
Souad says the interim government seized agricultural lands under claims that they were state property or “river protection zones” – lands located along the northern al-Kabir River.
The Alawite community, long marginalized and impoverished under Assad’s rule, depends heavily on farming.
But under the new authorities, their suffering doubled. Souad says bitterly:
“They took our land – the land my father farmed for 60 years.
They stole our memories before stealing our soil.
Most of the people who remained are elderly, too scared to cross the checkpoints at the village entrance.
Some even swim across the river because they fear passing through the armed posts.”
A presidential decree was issued to form an independent national committee to investigate the crimes – but the committee dismissed the abuses as “individual violations,” which effectively gave cover for the crimes to spread.
“A presidential decree formed a ‘national investigative committee,’
yet the committee insisted the violations were merely ‘individual acts.’”
Souad asks, her voice cracked with anguish:
“We were raised to love Syria.
We never hung Assad’s picture or joined his rallies.
My father raised us on patriotism.
He was killed because we share a sect with Bashar?
So sixty thousand Alawites must pay the price for him?
When we were starving, no one asked about us – and now we’re treated as symbols of death?”
A Country of Accused Communities
Souad now lives in constant fear — afraid to speak, afraid to step outside. She says:
“I hate belonging to Syria now… it has become a mark of killing one another.
I hate the word ‘sect’ — it has turned into a death sentence.
Sunnis, Druze, Alawites, Christians… we are all targets.
I want to escape this country… this land of criminal rulers and feuding sects.”
How long will the war last? And when will the coast finally know peace?
The victims have no voice.
Families demand international investigations into the fate of the missing, accountability for factions loyal to the new government, recognition of the crimes, and international guarantees for safety — to stop the kidnappings, the looting, and to allow journalists and investigators safe access…
Above all, they demand a safe return for civilians who fled the violence.**
