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2d ago

UN Report Says March Coastal Violence in Syria Likely Amounted to War Crimes

Naming interim-government divisions and pro-Assad fighters responsible for systematic violence, the report urges prosecutions, tighter vetting and new safeguards for Alawite civilians.

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 UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria concluded that the March coastal violence involved widespread and systematic attacks on Alawite civilians that likely constitute war crimes.
  • Investigators named members of interim-government divisions—the 62nd, 76th and 400th—as well as pro-Assad and former government fighters as perpetrators of extrajudicial killings, torture and other grave abuses.
  • The commission drew on more than 200 interviews, site visits to mass graves and granted ‘unfettered access’ to document cases of killings, abductions, forced marriages, looting and desecration of bodies.
  • A parallel Syrian government inquiry confirmed 1,426 deaths and reported arrests of suspected perpetrators while some independent monitors estimate the death toll at over 1,700.
  • The report calls for expanded prosecutions, tighter vetting of security forces and new safeguards to protect Alawite and other minority communities from future reprisals.