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yesterday

UN Commission Finds Systematic War Crimes in Syria’s March Coastal Violence

A UN report urges Syrian interim authorities to hold perpetrators accountable by overhauling vetting in their security forces to protect minority groups.

FILE - Red Crescent workers carry a wounded man outside the Russian air base in Hmeimim, near Latakia in Syria's coastal region on March 11, 2025, as they evacuate wounded members of the Alawite sect who have sought refuge there following recent violence and revenge killings. (AP Photo/Omar Albam, File)
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People fleeing the sectarian violence in Syria's predominantly Alawite coastal region cross into Lebanon in March
A member of the new Syrian authorities' security forces guards a checkpoint previously held by loyalists to Bashar al-Assad in the coastal province of Latakia in March

Overview

  • The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria concluded that the March coastal clashes involved widespread and systematic abuses, some of which likely amount to war crimes.
  • Investigators conducted over 200 interviews with victims and witnesses and were granted unfettered access to Latakia and Tartus before documenting murder, torture, looting, abductions and confirmed cases of sexual violence.
  • The report estimates that between 1,400 and 1,700 people—predominantly Alawite civilians—were killed and that the violence displaced tens of thousands of residents.
  • Responsibility for the atrocities was attributed to both interim government-aligned factions and pro-Assad forces, with no evidence of a centrally ordered state policy directing the attacks.
  • The commission calls for prompt prosecutions of alleged perpetrators and the implementation of rigorous security-sector screening, noting that arrests and reforms by the interim government have so far been limited.