New evidence of Alawite killings in western Syria

According to the investigation published by The Cradle, on the afternoon of March 9, 2025, Syrian government security forces, along with allied armed groups, killed 44 Alawite civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, in the village of Barabishbo in Latakia province. The same forces reportedly killed at least seven more civilians in the nearby village of Zubar.

The report, citing several survivors who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, states:

“The massacres were carefully planned and carried out by agencies linked to the Syrian state, including the Internal Security Directorate—known as General Security—and the Syrian Army’s 400th Division.”

Survivors said that in the days leading up to the attack, the Syrian government had deployed tens of thousands of military and paramilitary forces affiliated with the Ministry of Defense and General Security to coastal regions. At the same time, after religious institutions tied to the government of Ahmad al-Sharaa, better known as al-Jolani, head of the Syrian Transitional Government, called for “jihad” from mosques across the country, armed civilians also joined the military effort.

A survivor named Luna recounted: “About half an hour before the massacre began, General Security forces entered the village and told us they had come to protect us. They asked the men to return from the forests. We trusted them—but only fifteen minutes after our young men came back, those same forces returned and killed them. They said they came to bring security, but they brought slaughter.”

The report also documents widespread abductions of civilians. Survivors said the kidnappers wore masks, but their accents revealed they were a mix of foreign fighters, Sunni residents from neighboring villages, and men from Idlib province—the former stronghold of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, al-Qaeda’s former affiliate in Syria.

The investigation concludes that the March 9 massacres are part of a new wave of sectarian and retaliatory crimes targeting the Alawite minority in areas under the control of militias loyal to al-Jolani in northern and western Syria.