PARIS — After days of bloodshed, a tense calm hangs over Jableh, a coastal city in Syria’s Latakia province that was an epicenter of major confrontations that broke out last week between government forces and armed groups loyal to the deposed Assad regime, accompanied by hundreds of extrajudicial killings.
It was in a village near Jableh that a “coordinated” attack by pro-Assad fighters against the Syrian Ministry of Interior’s General Security Service personnel began on March 6. To regain control, Damascus called in reinforcements from the Ministry of Defense and General Security, while “unaffiliated” armed groups—spurred into action by an explosion of public anger—also joined the fray.
Over the following days, hundreds of people were killed, some on a sectarian basis. Syria’s diverse coastal regions are home to the majority of the country’s Alawites, members of the religious minority to which the Assad family that ruled for more than 50 years until last December belongs.
As of March 12, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR)documented the extrajudicial killing of at least 878 people in Latakia, Tartous, Hama and Homs since March 6. Pro-Assad fighters killed 204 members of government forces and 225 civilians, while armed forces affiliated with or allied with Damascus killed at least 449 civilians and “disarmed fighters.”
Jableh, a diverse city, saw widespread confrontations with “regime remnants” as well as sectarian killings, property destruction and looting. What did residents experience during those bloody days, and what does the future hold for the battered city? What civil peace can be salvaged as a fact-finding committeeformed to investigate the events on the coast begins its work?
Before the storm
“Two days before the attack, there were sectarian tensions in Jableh, and some childish sectarian acts took place among youths,” Hussam (a pseudonym), an Alawite resident of the city, toldSyria Direct. The incidents were “handled by locals and notables” at the time, he added.
Hussein al-Abdullah (a pseudonym), who is a member of Syria’s Sunni majority, said he had not noticed anything “suspicious” in Jableh over the days leading up to March 6. However, “after the regime remnants’ operations against general security began, the picture changed,” he toldSyria Direct.
It later emerged that “some had prior knowledge of the preparations to target general security, and some hid the remnants and their weapons in their homes, while others participated in hiding weapons near the Ali al-Qadi School in Jableh,” al-Abdullah said.
Muhammad Omran (a pseudonym), another Sunni resident who witnessed events in Jableh, provided a similar account.
In SNHR’sreport on the events on the coast, released on Tuesday, the monitor found that “armed civilians” were involved in the attack in Jableh and “emerged with personal weapons as soon as the attacks began.”
What happened in Jableh?
On the afternoon of March 6, a group of pro-Assad fighters began a “coordinated” attack on government forces in Beit Ana, a village near Jableh, as well as the town of Qardaha. The operation soon spread like wildfire, engulfing most cities and towns on the coast.
Read more:Blood on the coast: Can Damascus pull back from the brink?
By four o’clock in the afternoon local time, armed confrontations reached Jableh. Within hours, the attacking forces managed to take control of the city’s northern and eastern neighborhoods, where both Alawites and Sunnis live, two sources from the city toldSyria Direct.
“While first storming the city’s southern neighborhoods, regime remnants carried out sectarian killings against the Sunni component,” Omran said. This prompted “Sunni youth to announce a public mobilization in the city and pursue the regime remnants to stop them from taking control of the city. They broke the siege on hospitals that were besieged by groups affiliated with the former regime.”
When government reinforcements—convoys from general security, the defense ministry, armed factions and unaffiliated gunmen—arrived in Jableh, “the city suffered billions [of Syrian pounds] in material losses due to attacks on shops and homes,” al-Abdullah said.
With their arrival, “civilian casualties increased,” he added, denouncing “the poor morals of some of the groups, which engaged in vandalism and looting, with no differentiation between Sunnis and Alawites.”
Al-Abdullah’s family’s shop was “robbed and vandalized by some of the groups” that ostensibly came to “support” them, he said. The General Security Service has “promised to compensate the owners of affected shops,” but his family has not been able to file a complaint “because the situation is not fully stable.”
“Some of the factions that entered Jableh committed widespread violations, including killings and theft against Sunnis and Alawites,” Omran echoed. “Some Sunnis hid their frightened Alawite neighbors in their homes to prevent attacks on them by the factions.”
Events on the coast sparked a firestorm of controversy and public outcry among Syrians, with some condemning the violations and others denying they took place, asdisinformation flooded social media. However, human rights organizations including SNHR have documented that many violations were committed.
The new Syrian government has acknowledged violations took place and pledged to hold accountable those proven to be involved. This week, the General Security Directorateannounced the arrest of a number of people for “illegal and bloody” acts against civilians on the coast, saying they would be referred to “the military judiciary to receive their punishment.”
Yasser Farhan, the spokesperson for an independent fact-finding committee formed to look into the events, said at a press conference in Damascus that it had begun its work. Its members met with “the President of the Syrian Arab Republic [Ahmad al-Sharaa], during which he stressed the importance of its role in uncovering the truth and the state’s commitment to holding those involved accountable and providing justice for the victims,” he said.
The committee is made up of “five judges, a criminal security brigadier general and a human rights lawyer, all of whom are experts specializing in documentation and justice,” Farhan said at the conference, whichSyria Direct’s correspondent in Damascus attended. He emphasized the committee’s independence and commitment to “neutrality and objectivity, in accordance with national and international standards.”
Has life returned to normal?
On Monday and Tuesday, Jableh saw “an improvement in the situation, accompanied by light clashes, especially at night,” al-Abdullah said. Still, “tension and fear is in people’s faces,” he added, with ongoing “sectarian tensions.” He reported hearing threatening phrases directed at his community, including “your turn is coming, Sunnis.”
Calls continue for the Syrian government and human rights organizations to intervene to protect Alawites from violations they face under the pretext of eliminating regime remnants.
So far this week, “the situation improved during the day, and markets opened, but the signs of destruction, vandalism and burning are immense,” Hussam said. When darkness falls, “complete silence” hangs over Jableh, and “fear grips all of us,” he added. “The tensions that occurred, and the bloodshed, will have significant long-term repercussions.”
Hussam pins his aspirations for rebuilding social cohesion on “good people from all sects and parties,” hoping that “they will have a role in civil peace in the next phase.”
“There is a wall of trust that was cracked during the Assad family’s time. Now it has been completely destroyed,” Omran said. The government has a heavy responsibility to “pay the utmost attention to civil peace, accountability and justice in order to mend the gap between communities, especially Alawites and Sunnis on the coast,” he added.
“Ending sectarian tensions,” al-Abdullah said, cannot be spoken about “without arresting the remnants of the regime and bringing them to justice,” which he sees as the core issue. “Sunni families embraced Alawites, and Alawites took in our wounded” during Jableh’s nightmare, he said.
His neighbors “in the same building are Alawites, and we are like family,” al-Abdullah concluded. “When I go out to shop and buy bread, I buy it for them like family.” When violence erupted in Jableh, “we were checking in on each other,” he added. “Our religion tells us to take care of our neighbors.”
This report was originally published inArabicand translated into English by Mateo Nelson.
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