Syrian court sentences two to death over 2025 coastal violence

A military criminal court in Aleppo has sentenced two supporters of Syria's ousted former president Bashar al-Assad to death over violence linked to last year's coastal unrest. The same court also handed prison terms to several other defendants in cases tied to killings of civilians from the Alawite minority. The rulings were announced on Thursday and relate to investigations into attacks in March 2025.

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State media said the death sentences were issued against Al-Waddah Ismail and Maher Ali. The court said they were convicted of seeking to incite civil war and sectarian fighting, and of leading armed groups with the intent to attack public forces. A third defendant, Maher Othman, received a 12-year prison sentence, although the court did not immediately specify the charge in that case.

In separate rulings, the court sentenced Mohammed Bakour, a member of the Defence Ministry's 82nd Division, to 20 years in prison after convicting him of intentional homicide. Ammar Abdul Aal was given a three-year sentence for torture, while Abdul Raouf Bakrjan and Mohammed Zarzouri were acquitted. The cases were heard at the Justice Palace in the northern city of Aleppo, according to the information released after the verdicts.

The proceedings are significant because they are linked to one of the deadliest episodes of sectarian violence in Syria since the fall of the Assad government. A government committee said at least 1,426 people, mostly civilians, were killed over several days in predominantly Alawite coastal areas. The committee said its investigation documented murder, premeditated murder, looting, destruction and burning of homes, torture and sectarian insults on March 7, 8 and 9, 2025.

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The violence also involved attacks on state forces. The committee said 238 members of the army and security forces were killed by pro-Assad fighters in the provinces of Tartous, Latakia and Hama. It also said about 200,000 pro-government military reinforcements later converged on the area, with allegations of revenge killings following the initial attacks.

The court rulings therefore touch both on crimes attributed to former regime loyalists and on alleged abuses by members of the current security apparatus. The government committee said it had identified 298 suspects implicated in serious violations during the violence in the Alawite heartland. The fact that government-linked personnel have now been tried for violence is notable in a country where accountability cases involving security forces have often been limited.

What remains unclear is whether further prosecutions will follow, how many of the identified suspects will face trial, and whether the verdicts will be appealed or lead to additional investigations.

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