In its preliminary report, the Syrian Monitoring Committee for Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid stated that after the interim government took office, the HTS and its allied armed groups committed massacres in the Syrian coastal region, especially against the Alevis, to the extent of genocide. While it was stated in the report that thousands of people were killed, tens of thousands of them were arbitrarily detained or forcibly disappeared, an emergency response called to the UN.
The Monitoring Committee for Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid of Syria reported in its preliminary report dated March 23, 2025 that the new administration established in Syria and its armed groups committed genocide in the coastal area.
The report states that after the interim president Abu Mohammed al-Colani (now Ahmed al-Sharaa) declared general mobilization on the grounds of "chasing the remnants of the regime" and the calls for "jihad" from mosques, the groups led by the delegation Tahrir al-Sham (HS) raided villages and neighborhoods where Alevis live.
Established on February 16, 2025, the Syrian Monitoring Committee for Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid was formed with the participation of 13 human rights NGOs and civil society organizations from inside and outside Syria and includes about 60 human rights activists.
According to the document titled "Hate-Sowing, Mass Murder Reapers: Genocide on the Syrian Coast—Preliminary Report" prepared by the committee, 25 massacres documented in the first three days of the events took place.
In the report, it was stated that the names of 2,246 Alevi victims, most of them young people, including old, children and women, were confirmed.
It was also documented that 42 people from other denominations were killed for showing solidarity with the victims or trying to hide civilians. The committee stated that 811 video recordings also documented these events.
The report emphasized that the region is already on the verge of an unprecedented humanitarian disaster with a poverty rate exceeding 97 percent.
In addition, violations such as more than 10 thousand documented illegal detention and forced disappearance, the dismissal of 2 thousand 14 people from various government sectors (military and civil) and especially from health and education sectors.
It was stated that the confiscation of private properties, the spread of hate speech and sectarian incitement, and the escalation of fear and terror hit the coastal area.
The report points to the radical ideology that HTS (formerly known as Nusra Front) has carried since its establishment.
It is stated that Abu Musab al-Suri's statements such as "Sunnis of Bilad'ush and Damascus Face Nusayris, Crusaders and Jews" are taught in jihadist schools, and Omar Abdulhekim's statements "Putting the word 'democratic' next to the word Muslim is like putting the word 'halal' on a wine bottle."
Egyptian-born Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir (Abdurrahman al-Ali) in his book "Affairs in Jihad Fiqh", which is permissible to kill animals during the war, and "the legitimacy of beheading of infidel soldiers as alive or dead".
The committee points out that the HTSH continued this hate speech in education curricula and mosques under its control, and continued the same approach after seizing power in Damascus.
According to the report, sectarian attacks and violence escalated with mass layoffs; attacks by new authority and affiliated militias, and revenge murders became part of everyday life.
It was emphasized that these actions were tried to be justified under "unfounded excuses", such as belonging to the group to which the leader of the old regime biologically belonged.
Arbitrary detentions
On the other hand, the report states that the HTS detained an undefinite number of people from military and security institutions and a large number of people accused of cooperating with the previous government.
While it was recorded that 354 people were detained in the first week of his takeover, it was documented that 8 thousand 276 people were arrested from the soldiers and security officers who were asked to surrender their weapons and join the new army.
It was noted that most of these arrests were made with sectarianism and prisoners were not allowed to contact the outside world.
It is also stated that most of the soldiers and security personnel who took refuge in Iraq and Lebanon and returned to Syria with the assurances of the new administration were arrested on their return.
The committee calls on the fate of 3 thousand 24 people who returned in this way unknown and that the governments of Iraq and Lebanon explain the conditions for these extraditions.
It is stated that there is confirmed information that more than 600 people were forcibly lost in the city of Homs, but the names could not be disclosed due to fear.
The report concluded the genocide
Referring to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which Syria ratified in 1951, the committee states that actions against the Alevi population in the coastal area (murder, serious physical or mental damage, deliberate destruction of living conditions, etc.) comply with the definition of genocide.
The report blames these crimes directly on interim government officials.
It is reminded that the Syrian Chief of General Staff Ali Nureddin al-Naasan (from the leadership of HTŞ and Nusra), the Minister of Defense Murhaf Abu Kasra (from the leadership of the military and security of the HTS) and the Director of General Intelligence Enes Hasan Hattab (from the security leadership of the General Staff) gave general mobilization and deployment orders for the coastal area in order to "suppress the conspiracy".
Among the military groups to which the orders were issued, the following Syrian groups are listed in addition to the HTS: Amshe Division, Hamzat Division, Ahrar al-Sharkiyye, Muntasır Billah Division, Mohammed al-Fatih Division, Sultan Murad Division.
It is also stated that the following non-Syrian groups were mobilized: Sunni Emigrant Movement in Iran (Iran), Caucasian Brigade (Russian Federation), Uzbek Brigade (Uzbekistan), Turkistan Islamic Party (China), Moroccan Battalion (Morocco), Tajik Group (Tajikistan), Albanian Group (Albania), Guraba Brigade (various nationalities), Balj Group (Pakistan), Utba bin Warqad Azerbaijan Group (Azerbaijan), Abu Yakub al-Turki Brigade (Turkey) and Uyghur Brigade.
Call from the Committee
At the end of the report, the Committee urgently calls on the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) and the Security Council to take the following steps:
— Declaring the Syrian coast and the rural areas of Homs and Hama as a humanitarian disaster zone.
— The UN's initiation of continuous and large-scale humanitarian response in these regions.
— The UN response includes protection measures, reconstruction, rehabilitation and long-term support programs.
— Combining resources by coordinating with local associations and civil society in the affected areas.
— Establishment of neighborhood committees consisting of reliable local figures in affected villages and regions.
— Assigning an independent international investigation committee to investigate all violations.
— Sending international monitoring committees to prevent further violations and stop bloodshed.
The committee adds that the report contains hundreds of pages of documents, films and sworn statements in the annexes and these can be presented at the request of independent UN investigation commissions.