2025-04-03T12:14:47+00:00
Shafaq News/ On Thursday, Amnesty International called on the Syrian government to ensure accountability for “sectarian massacres” targeting the Alawite minority in Syria's coastal region last month.
In a [statement](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/04/syria-coastal-massacres-of-alawite-civilians-must-be-investigated-as-war-crimes/), the organization urged the Syrian government to "take immediate steps to ensure that no person or group is targeted on the basis of their sect,” emphasizing that uncovering the truth, delivering justice, and providing reparations are "are crucial to ending cycles of atrocities.”
“The massacres must be investigated as war crimes,” it added.
Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard accused government-affiliated “militias” of deliberately targeting civilians from the Alawite minority in “gruesome reprisal attacks – shooting individuals at close range in cold blood.”
Sectarian violence erupted on March 6, marking the worst such clashes since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham-led (HTS) factions ousted Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The massacres mainly targeted the Alawite-majority coastal region, al-Assad's sect, forcing more than 21,000 people to flee to Lebanon, according to the United Nations, while thousands of others sought refuge at Russia's Hmeimim Airbase.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Syrian security forces and allies carried out "field executions," killing around 1,700 civilians, with most killings occurring on March 7 and 8.
In response, transitional Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa pledged to hold all those involved in “civilian bloodshed" accountable and formed an [independent committee](https://shafaq.com/en/World/Syria-s-Al-Sharaa-forms-committee-to-investigate-deadly-violence) to investigate the events, though its findings have yet to be released.