The Syrian arena is experiencing one of its darkest chapters today, as the pace of security chaos escalates in an unprecedented manner, turning into campaigns of persecution and systematic attacks in the streets. This tragic scene, which leaves behind a deep societal rift and a division that threatens what remains of the country’s stability, is led by local groups loyal to the de facto authority, imposing their dominance through the force of terror and violence. These groups target civilians and their properties across the Syrian geography, focusing their violence in a blatantly sectarian and direct manner against members of the Alawite sect, amid public threats of forced displacement. What adds to the bleakness of the scene is the complete absence of the rule of law, with the concerned authorities standing as mere spectators before a wave of sectarian and retaliatory attacks that are ravaging the streets.
Damascus: Identity-Based Targeting and Efforts for Forced Displacement
In the capital, Damascus, specifically in Alawite-majority neighborhoods such as “Mezzeh 86” and “Esh Al-Warwar,” the streets have turned into arenas for settling sectarian scores. These incidents were not merely passing riots, but organized and violent attacks that included stabbings with knives and bladed weapons targeting shop owners, and direct gunfire that resulted in severe and critical injuries among civilians and neighborhood committee members. The scene was characterized by extreme violence, as transport sector workers were severely beaten with rifle butts after being forcibly dragged from their vehicles, left bleeding while residents were prevented from intervening to provide medical aid.
This excessive physical violence was accompanied by a large-scale war on properties; the attacks included the smashing of dozens of private cars, and the storming of commercial shops, pharmacies, and licensed stores, completely destroying and looting their contents, in addition to recording intimidating kidnapping attempts. All of this occurred to the tune of hateful sectarian chants and slogans, in a clear and systematic effort to impose the forced displacement of Alawites and change the demographics of the area through the force of arms and terror, amid a complete absence of any government intervention to protect the residents.
Idlib and the Provinces: Street Dragging and Field Executions
In other regions, the security breakdown took on even more savage forms to terrorize peaceful citizens. In the Idlib governorate, scenes of dragging and torture took center stage, with horrific incidents recorded involving the dragging of elderly men in the streets and severely beating them. Reports also documented the execution of young men under grotesque sadistic torture based on accusations regarding their sectarian backgrounds or previous political stances. Civilians were subjected to brutal mob attacks that nearly cost them their lives, and paradoxically, some of these crimes were carried out in plain sight of security patrols that chose to remain silent and not intervene.
The systematic violence expanded to take the form of arson and destruction. In the countryside of Idlib, attempts were made to burn civilian homes using fireworks, while the city of Taybat al-Imam in the Hama countryside witnessed the actual torching of cars and residential houses, coinciding with gatherings in Hama chanting slogans containing explicit threats of slaughter. Other cities like Palmyra, Douma, and Tel Rifaat were not spared from this chaos, where violations ranged from severe beatings in the streets to the smashing of commercial shops, and attempts at the mass expulsion of families from their homes.
Public Incitement and Deepening the Division and Rift
This mobile bloody scene across the provinces is not a product of the moment or a coincidence, but rather the fruit of systematic incitement campaigns and a discourse broadcasted and published publicly to terrorize unarmed residents and deepen societal division. This incitement manifests in its ugliest forms through the distribution of leaflets and paper clippings promising revenge against the residents, carrying explicit and direct threats to citizens, demanding they emigrate and evacuate their homes under the penalty of accountability, along with previous inciting campaigns such as the “Boycott the Alawites” campaign and other discourses of sectarianism and hate.
What Syria is witnessing today goes beyond mere security breaches, rising to the level of organized crimes aimed at reinforcing sectarian division and destroying the remaining civil peace through forced displacement and the shedding of blood. The silence of the concerned authorities and their complete turning of a blind eye to these practices, clearly manifested in security patrols standing as spectators before dragging operations and brutal attacks, as well as the total absence of law enforcement during the destruction of properties and assaults on civilians in the heart of the capital, Damascus, is evidence of either their partnership and complicity in this security chaos, or the collapse of the authority’s institutions and their inability to control the Syrian streets, leaving citizens hostage to groups pushing the country toward a dark and tragic abyss.