Syrian court hands death sentences over 2025 coastal violence
Theo Al Jazeera
A Syrian military court in Aleppo has sentenced two supporters of the ousted Assad government to death for inciting an uprising and ethnic violence in 2025. In separate rulings, members of the new government's security forces received prison terms over the killing of Alawite civilians during last March's coastal violence, which left at least 1,426 people dead.
A military court at the Palace of Justice in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo has sentenced two people identified as supporters of the ousted government of Bashar al-Assad to death on charges of inciting an uprising in 2025. According to the state news agency SANA, the two defendants given death sentences are Al-Waddah Ismail and Maher Ali.
The two were convicted of seeking to incite civil war and ethnic conflict and of leading armed groups to attack public authority forces. A third defendant, Maher Othman, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, though the court did not immediately publish the specific charges against him.
In separate rulings, the court also sentenced Mohammed Bakour, a member of the 82nd Division of the new government's Ministry of Defense, to 20 years in prison for premeditated murder. Ammar Abdul Aal received three years for torture, while Abdul Raouf Bakrjan and Mohammed Zarzouri were acquitted, according to SANA.
The verdicts stem from an investigation by a government committee into attacks in March of last year. At least 1,426 people, most of them civilians, were killed during days of ethnic violence in Syria's coastal areas, home to a large Alawite population.
The defendants in these cases include loyalists of the former al-Assad government and members of the new government's security forces. It is the first time that personnel linked to the authorities have been brought to trial over the violence.
The government committee said it had identified 298 suspects linked to serious violations during the violence in the Alawite heartland. The investigation documented "grave violations against civilians on 7, 8 and 9 March 2025, including killing, premeditated murder, looting, the destruction and burning of homes, torture and ethnic insults."
According to the committee, 238 members of the military and security forces were killed by Assad loyalist gunmen in attacks in the provinces of Tartous, Latakia and Hama. Some 200,000 pro-government reinforcements later moved into the area and are alleged to have carried out revenge killings.
Al Jazeera's Heidi Pett, reporting from the capital Damascus, said the uprising was launched by individuals still loyal to the al-Assad government. Al-Assad himself is also from the Alawite religious minority.
According to Pett, after the Assad government collapsed and its leadership fled the country at the end of 2024, supporters — including soldiers loyal to the ousted government and militia members — withdrew to the mountains and launched the uprising in March 2025 against the new authorities. Forces loyal to the new government are accused of killing Alawite civilians in revenge attacks.
"These trials involve seven people who took part in the initial pro-Assad uprising, and seven members of the new government's security forces who were later deployed to the area and are accused of carrying out revenge attacks," Pett said.
SANA reported earlier that on 17 September the court issued verdicts in cases involving four other defendants accused of violations during last March's events in the coastal region. One received a death sentence, one was given life in prison and one 20 years; the fourth defendant was acquitted.
