Syrian government-linked actors brutally massacred members of minority group, investigation finds

Groups linked to the new Syrian government were reportedly responsible for massacring roughly 1,500 Alawites in Northern Syria after overthrowing Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in December 2024, a Reuters investigation revealed Monday.

At least a dozen factions — including ones with chains of command leading directly to the inner circle around Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa — engaged in a spree of revenge killings from March 7 to March 9 against the Alawite minority group, which previously enjoyed protection under Assad’s government, according to a Reuters review of nearly 40 unique incidents. President Donald Trump’s new administration has attempted to improve relations with the new government, even floating bringing them into the Abraham Accords, a treaty meant to improve ties between the Arab states and Israel.

Al-Sharaa denounced the killings at the time, saying they “won’t accept that any blood be shed unjustly,” according to Reuters. The Alawites are a Shia Muslim minority group numbering around 2.1 million, primarily living around Syria’s northern coast along the Mediterranean Sea.

During the killings, some victims were forced to crawl on the ground like dogs before being killed or had their eyes gouged out, while one victim has his heart ripped from his body, according to Reuters. Often, the armed groups would kill entire families in one attack, and some militants targeted specific people using lists of names they carried with them.

A rebel coalition led by Islamic militant organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Assad from power in December following a brief and fierce advance on the capital of Damascus, forcing the former dictator into exile in Russia. Al-Sharaa has carefully cultivated an image of being a more pro-Western leader compared to Assad, with many legacy media outlets saying the new government was “moderate” compared to the previous regime.

However, the new government is reportedly going through extreme instability, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying on May 20 the government was mere weeks away from a potential collapse. The Trump administration eased sanctions on the nation in May in order to potentially promote stability in the region, which has been rattled by civil war for over a decade.

The interim president ordered the creation of a committee to investigate the killings, but a spokesperson for the effort told Reuters that they could not provide any details.

“We are unable to provide any responses before completing this process in respect for the integrity of the truth,” the spokesperson told Reuters Monday.“I expect that you will find the results useful, and that they uncover the truth.”

Reuters spoke with over 200 families of victims and over 40 commanders, officials and fighters in their investigation over the phone and during visits to sites of massacres.

The Syrian Mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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