Overview

• UN commission finds March violence on the Syrian coast was generalised, systematic and could constitute war crimes targeting the Alawite minority.
• Investigators documented killings, torture, large-scale looting, house burnings and displacement of tens of thousands based on more than 200 interviews and site inspections in Latakia and Tartous.
• Report details cases where Alawite men were separated from women and children before execution and atrocities were filmed and shared on social media.
• Interim government forces, civilian auxiliaries and pro-Assad fighters are implicated in the abuses, while Syrian authorities assert that loyalist militias instigated attacks on security forces.
• A Damascus-appointed inquiry has provisionally identified 298 suspects, but transparent prosecutions and independent accountability remain pending.