Syria’s military criminal court handed death sentences to two men affiliated with the former regime and prison terms of two months to 20 years to Defense Ministry members over the March 2025 violence on the country’s coast, reigniting debate over whether all sides are being held to account.
On Thursday, Syria’s military criminal court sentenced defendants to death and prison terms over the March 2025 violence, in which, by most estimates, more than 1,400 Alawites and 238 members of the Syrian security forces were killed. The court acquitted two Defense Ministry members.
The court sentenced Maher Ali and Al-Waddah Ismail, who were affiliated with the former regime, to death by hanging on charges including fomenting sectarian fighting and leading armed gangs.
By contrast, it sentenced Mohammed Bakour to 20 years in prison for intentional murder; Maher Othman to 12 years; Ammar Abdel Aal to three years; and Capt. Mustafa Shannan and Khaled al-Hamid to two years each. All were affiliated with the Defense Ministry and faced charges involving fighting and torture. Mahmoud Shaheen was sentenced to two months for causing harm. The court also acquitted Abdel Raouf Bakr and Mohammed Zarzouri, citing insufficient evidence.
Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told MBN that the disparity among the sentences “raises questions that call for an explanation of the legal grounds and evidence on which the court relied.”
“Each case has its own circumstances and evidence,” Abdel Rahman told MBN. But he said the court should publish the reasoning behind its verdicts and expand its investigations to include not only those who carried out abuses on the ground, but also those who ordered, planned, facilitated or covered them up, regardless of their affiliation.
Fadel Abdul Ghany, director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, told MBN that the verdicts marked a step toward accountability. He said differences in the sentences did not, by themselves, establish that justice had been selective.
Nabil al-Halabi, a lawyer and executive director of the Middle East Policy Forum, told MBN that the verdicts marked “an important judicial step” toward moving from investigating and documenting abuses to determining individuals’ criminal responsibility.
The violence along the coast began on March 6, 2025, and continued for three days in Latakia and Tartous provinces, where Alawites make up most of the population.
The authorities accused gunmen loyal to former President Bashar al-Assad of attacking security and military sites, killing 238 security and army personnel, according to a July 2025 report by a Syrian national fact-finding committee established by the government.
The attacks were followed by large-scale military operations carried out by the Defense and Interior ministries, with the participation of allied armed groups.
During the operations, Syrian and international human rights organizations, as well as witnesses, documented abuses against Alawite civilians, including killings, summary executions and looting.
Human Rights Watch said in a report published on March 10, 2025, that the clashes along the coast were followed by a surge in abuses, including summary executions, indiscriminate gunfire and looting. Alawite civilians bore the brunt of the violence, the report said.
In August 2025, the United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry said it had reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes had been committed during the coastal violence by forces affiliated with the new authorities and by armed groups loyal to the former regime.
Amnesty International called for massacres of civilians to be investigated as “possible” war crimes.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights documented unlawful killings of 420 civilians and disarmed fighters, including 39 children. Most were killed by armed forces that took part in the military operations, the network said.
On March 9, Syria’s presidency announced the formation of a committee to investigate the coastal violence and pledged to hold those responsible for abuses to account, according to the official news agency SANA.
The committee also documented abuses against civilians in the days that followed. It attributed them to individuals and small groups acting for various motives, describing the abuses as isolated, random and unorganized, according to SANA.
The national committee said it had referred 563 suspects to the courts: 298 suspected of involvement in abuses against civilians and 265 suspected of involvement in attacks on security forces, army personnel and public property. A referral to court does not, by itself, establish a suspect’s criminal responsibility.
Estimates of the death toll from the violence along Syria’s coast vary. The committee established by the Syrian authorities said it had documented the deaths of 1,426 Alawites and 238 members of the public security forces and army.
The United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry estimated in August 2025 that about 1,400 people had been killed, most of them civilians.
Reuters said it counted 1,479 Alawites killed in 40 locations, based on interviews with more than 200 families and dozens of officials, commanders and mediators.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated the death toll at about 1,700, most of them Alawites.
Issmat al-Absi, a security and strategic affairs expert and former head of the Court of Justice in Horan, told MBN that the timing of the verdicts suggested “the authorities want to address the case through the judicial process rather than through revenge outside the law.”
Al-Absi said the verdicts were “a necessary step, but not enough on their own to restore the trust of coastal residents.” He stressed the importance of continuing accountability and ensuring it did not focus on only a limited group of defendants.
Al-Halabi stressed the need to provide ways to seek review and appeal of the verdicts, particularly the death sentences, saying that “a mistake cannot be corrected after an execution.”
Guarantees of a fair trial, the sufficiency of the evidence and review of the verdicts remain essential as the judicial proceedings continue, he added.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.
