Al Jazara
روایت خاورمیانه 
A military court in Aleppo today (Thursday) issued its rulings for the first time regarding the massacre of Alawites in 2025. Two supporters of Bashar al-Assad, the former President of Syria, were sentenced to death and a government official received 20 years in prison.
Details of the Trials in Aleppo
The trials began last November and involve 14 defendants, seven of whom are loyal forces to the government of Ahmad al-Shara'a and seven are supporters of Bashar al-Assad. Judge Zakaria Bakr, the head of the court, announced that one of the defendants, who was a member of the Ministry of Defense forces, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for "premeditated murder."
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At the beginning of these trials, some defendants, who identified themselves as supporters of the former regime, did not confess to their crimes. One of them claimed to have been in Lebanon at the time of the events. Among the defendants, a man from Latakia was sentenced to death by hanging for "rape with the intent to escalate the civil war and sectarian conflicts." Another was sentenced to life imprisonment and one more was acquitted.
Background of the Massacre and Its Consequences
The 13-year Syrian war, which began in 2011, led to the massacre of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of millions. This war started after the government's crackdown on pro-democracy activists. Although some Alawites initially supported the democracy movement, with the increase in government crackdowns and concerns over the rise of armed sectarian groups among the opposition, most of this community turned to support Bashar al-Assad.
With Bashar al-Assad's flight to Moscow in December 2024, increasing demands from Alawites for protection against retaliatory sectarian attacks and kidnappings have emerged. In July, Amnesty International reported credible accounts of 36 cases of kidnapping of Alawite women and girls since December 2024. The Syrian feminist lobby also reported that 80 Alawite women and girls have gone missing since early 2025, with 26 of those confirmed as kidnappings.
Many of those who have been kidnapped claim to have been subjected to sectarian abuse and described these attacks as revenge against the Alawite community, a community to which the Assad family also belongs.
The transitional government of Ahmad al-Shara'a, however, has stated that these reports are exaggerated. Nour al-Din Baba, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, told a news outlet in April that government investigations into 42 cases of kidnapping identified only one real case.
During al-Shara'a's visit to London earlier this year, he faced protests from Alawites who accused him of facilitating "genocide" in Syria. Mehr Hamadoush, director of the Syrian Coastal Society (SCS), a group supporting Alawites in Britain, stated: "In a situation where Syrians continue to face displacement, insecurity, and marginalization, allowing such a person to enter Britain sends the wrong message that could lead to the normalization of individuals associated with violence."
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