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A request that this article title be changed to December 2024 Ba'athist insurgency in Syria is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed.

Following the fall of the Assad regime after several offensives launched by opposition groups between late-November to early-December 2024, several clashes between Assadian Ba'athist loyalists and incumbent Syrian National Coalition government forces have occurred primarily in hold-outs in the Alawite-majority Tartus and Latakia Governorates, as well as in western Hama and Homs Governorates.

Government action was taken to comb through villages in Western Syria in order to find and arrest or take down officers and officials associated with war crimes attributed to the Assad regime during the Syrian civil war. The clashes were also influenced by civil unrest in Alawite communities following an attack on the Abu Abdullah al-Hussein al-Khusseibi shrine in Aleppo, leading to several demonstrations in Western Syria against repression of Alawite religious heritage and identity.

Background

In December 2024, a swift military campaign led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) faction successfully overthrew the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, ending over five decades of Assad family rule in Syria. The offensive, originating in the country's northeastern region, resulted in Assad and his family seeking refuge in Russia. HTS emir and military commander Ahmad al-Sharaa emerged as Syria's de facto leader following the fall of Damascus, with the majority of Syrian Armed Forces troops surrendering, fleeing the country, or defecting.

Civil unrest

Escalating tensions were reported across Syria, particularly in regions with significant Alawite populations, with civil unrest emerging in multiple locations including Tartus, Latakia, and Qardaha. Demonstrations from the Alawite community occurred with the purpose of defending Alawite religious rights and in fear of potential retribution, due to many members being associated with the former regime's documented human rights violations.

On 22 December 2024, civilian demonstrations erupted in the Al-Bahluliyah district east of Latakia, following allegations of misconduct by Syrian government security forces, demanding for the complete withdrawal of Syrian security forces from the village. The incident involved armed individuals claiming affiliation with the Syrian government forcibly entered the residence of Al-Bahluliyah's Mukhtar. The intruders reportedly brandished weapons at young residents in the neighborhood and committed various acts of misconduct, including verbal and physical abuse against family members and a girl. Protesters chanted "Death rather than humiliation" in response.

Abu Abdullah al-Hussein al-Khusseibi shrine attack

On 25 December, demonstrations in Syrian Alawite communities intensified in response to videos showing footage of armed men desecrating the Abu Abdullah al-Hussein al-Khusseibi shrine in Aleppo dedicated to the founder of Alawite branch, regarded as one of the branch's most venerated locations globally. The attackers killed five shrine custodians, desecrated their remains, vandalized the sacred site, and set fire to the structure.

The demonstrations erupted across multiple neighborhoods in Homs, including Al-Khudari, Wadi Al-Dhahab, Al-Zahraa, Al-Sabil, Al-Abbasiya, and Al-Muhajireen. Protesters expressed outrage over the shrine attack through sectarian chants and public demonstrations, with religious and community leaders denouncing it as an attack on Alawite religious heritage and identity while calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. Protesters also demanded greater security be granted to the community by the government, and for it to remove all of the extremist and foreign elements from its military. Several protesters were arrested in Homs, Tartus, and Jableh. The Syrian General Security Forces, operating under the new government's Military Operations Department, opened fire to disperse the crowd in Homs, resulting in one protester's death and five others sustaining injuries from gunfire.

In response to rising tensions, the new government enhanced its security presence in Alawite-dominated regions. Public Security Forces implemented a curfew across Homs, Jableh, and Banias, while military reinforcements established security perimeters around the Akrama and Al-Nahda neighborhoods to stop further unrest. They also established military checkpoints for civilians to hand over their weapons, and set up loudspeakers in mosques instructing them to do so within 24 hours. Many, especially officers associated with the Assad regime, refused to do so.

Clashes

On 14 December, pro-Assad gunmen ambushed Sham Legion fighters in al-Muzayri'a in the Latakia countryside, killing or wounding fifteen troops.

On 25 December, unidentified armed groups conducted synchronized assaults on multiple security checkpoints in the western Hama countryside with RPG launchers and heavy machine guns, killing one Syrian government troop and injuring another.

On the same day, the Syrian Military Operations Department conducted a major security operation combing through several Tartus Governorate villages and forests for regime loyalists and those involved with Assad regime-related crimes. Armed forces launched a raid in the village of Khirbet al-Ma'zah in the Tartus countryside, resulting in the arrest of Major General Mohammed Kanjo al-Hassan and twenty of his associates. Al-Hassan, who had served as director of judicial administration and president of the Field Court, was notable for his role in authorizing numerous executions of detainees under the previous regime at the Sednaya Prison near Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The conflict resulted in fourteen interior ministry personnel losing their lives and ten others sustaining injuries during what officials described as an "ambush". Three gunmen associated with al-Hassan were also killed in the gun fight.

On 26 December, two armed individuals from the village of Al-Zarqat, identified as regime loyalists or "shabiha," were killed after engaging in armed conflict with General Security forces. The security campaign prompted many former regime officials implicated in crimes against Syrian civilians to flee from several villages, including Al-Zuraiqat, Khirbet al-Ma'zah, and surrounding areas. In addition, four Syrian government troops were killed during a raid on a pro-Assad holdout containing trafficking ringleader Shujaa al-Ali in Balqsa, western Homs Governorate.

Civilian casualties

On 22 December, a young man was kidnapped near Homs, taken to Baniyas, and executed in a field by unknown gunmen.

On 23 December, a man and woman were killed in Wadi Al-Nasara by unknown perpetrators. A Yahmour, Homs resident was killed by unknown gunmen after being accused of loyalty to the Assad regime. An unidentified man was found killed by a "field execution" near the Ras Al-Shamra roundabout in Latakia. After one group of unknown gunmen raided and left Hadidah, a second group entered and killed two civilians for unknown reasons.

On 24 December, three Alawite judges were executed by unknown gunmen while travelling in the western Hama countryside. Several gunmen attacked and looted the residents of seven houses in the Alawite-majority village of Jidrin.

On 25 December, a medical student was shot dead by an unknown gunman in Latakia. One civilian was found dead on the M4 Motorway in Ariha, Idlib, having been killed by a "field execution". Three more were killed by unknown gunmen in Tal Sarin, Hama. An information engineering university student was executed in the countryside of Jableh by unknown gunmen.

On 26 December, an armed group raided the western Hama Governorate village of Al-Aziziyah located in the Ghab Plain, and executed a civilian before arresting eight others and taking them to an unknown location.

References

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• Latakia Governorate in the Syrian civil war
• Tartus Governorate in the Syrian civil war
• Battles of the Syrian civil war in 2024
• Hama Governorate in the Syrian civil war
• Homs Governorate in the Syrian civil war
• December 2024 events in Syria
• Fall of the Assad regime