The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has documented the violent deaths of nearly 10,000 people in Syria since the former ISIS commander, Ahmad al-Sharaa, was installed in power in Damascus.
After Sharaa toppled the government of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December last year, he was widely praised. An article in the UK’s Telegraph described his armed group, the former Al-Qaeda affiliated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as “diversity friendly jihadists”.
Since that time, his HTS-led security forces have gone on a killing spree targeting Syria’s minority groups.
SOHR reported on 7 August that “due to ongoing violence and violations by local and foreign actors, coupled with widespread security chaos,” at least 9,889 people have been killed since 8 December 2024, the day Damascus fell.
The SORH said that 7,449 civilians were among the victims, including 396 children and 541 women.
It also stressed that there has been no accountability for killings carried out by members of Syria’s security forces and affiliated armed factions, while “in some cases, perpetrators are being covered up and facts are being distorted.”
The SOHR noted, for example, that the fact-finding committee formed to investigate the massacre of roughly 1,600 Alawite civilians in Syria’s coastal regions in March “did not provide results consistent with the facts,” and was released while government forces and affiliated factions were carrying out new massacres of Druze civilians in Suwayda.
At the same time, pro-government media have launched campaigns aimed at undermining any groups seeking to document or expose the human rights violations, including by “disseminating sectarian and inflammatory rhetoric” against specific religious minority groups.
For example, media campaigns have been launched to deflect from the massacres by calling Alawites “remnants of the regime” of Bashar al-Assad, calling the Druze “collaborators” with Israel, and calling the Kurds “separatists.”
In many videos posted online, Syrian government-affiliated fighters regularly refer to both Alawites and Druze as “pigs” before executing them in their homes and the street.
The SOHR stated as well that thousands of detainees – who have not had a proper trial or been allowed to appear before a judge – remain in prison.
Among the detainees are people arrested after the fall of Assad, and others who were arrested during raids or at security checkpoints. Many of these detainees have no clear charges against them and are being arbitrarily detained without due process, SOHR added.
Bet he constantly dreamed of sitting on this special chair next to a Gulf-owned American diplomat billionaire while he was coordinating suicide bombers to hit US convoys and hiding in caves. An inspiration to us all. pic.twitter.com/mjANpLoPQP
— Lindsey Snell (@LindseySnell) August 6, 2025
On 5 August, SOHR reported that families of kidnapped civilians renewed calls for Syrian authorities to reveal the fate of young Alawite men taken from their homes without charges during the massacres on the coast in March.
The missing detainees are from the villages of Hmeimim, Bustan al-Basha, Al-Qabo, and Al-Sanober. Families told SOHR activists that armed groups stormed houses and took the young men to an unknown location without explaining the reasons or issuing official arrest warrants. Since then, Syrian authorities have provided no information about their fate despite repeated demands from their families.
Loading recommendations…
