Syrian court sentences two to death over 2025 coastal violence
Court rulings concern violence and killings during March 2025 uprising by pro-Assad forces and retaliatory attacks.
Key points
- A Syrian military court sentenced two supporters of the ousted Assad regime to death for inciting last year's coastal uprising.
- The same court handed prison terms to members of the current government's security forces for killing civilians.
- At least 1,426 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the March 2025 sectarian violence in Syria's coastal regions.
A Syrian military court in Aleppo has sentenced two supporters of the ousted Bashar al-Assad regime to death for inciting an uprising last year, state media reported. The court also handed prison terms to members of the current government's security forces for the killing of civilians.
The Military Criminal Court at the Justice Palace convicted Al-Waddah Ismail and Maher Ali of seeking to incite civil war and sectarian fighting and leading armed gangs to attack public forces, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). A third defendant, Maher Othman, received 12 years in prison, though the court did not immediately specify the charges against him.
Sentences for security forces
In separate rulings, the court sentenced Mohammed Bakour, a member of the Defence Ministry's 82nd Division in the new government, to 20 years in prison after convicting him of intentional homicide. Ammar Abdul Aal was sentenced to three years for torture, while Abdul Raouf Bakrjan and Mohammed Zarzouri were acquitted, SANA said.
The rulings stem from investigations by a government committee into attacks in March last year. At least 1,426 people, mostly civilians, were killed in several days of sectarian violence in the predominantly Alawite areas of Syria's coastal regions. It is the first time government-linked personnel have been put on trial for acts of violence.
These trials are for seven men who took part in the initial pro-Assad uprising, and also seven members of the new government's security forces who were subsequently deployed into the area and are accused of carrying out revenge attacks
— Al Jazeera's Heidi Pett
Background to the violence
The committee identified 298 suspects implicated in serious violations during the violence in the Alawite heartland. Its investigation documented serious violations against civilians on March 7, 8 and 9, 2025, including murder, premeditated murder, looting, destruction and burning of homes, torture and sectarian insults.
The committee said 238 members of the army and security forces were killed by pro-Assad fighters in the attacks in the provinces of Tartous, Latakia and Hama. About 200,000 pro-government reinforcements then converged on the area, carrying out alleged revenge killings. Al Jazeera's Heidi Pett, reporting from Damascus, said the uprising was started by individuals still loyal to the ousted al-Assad regime, who fled to the mountains after the regime fell at the end of 2024 and launched the March 2025 uprising.
