Militants attack towns in Hama Countryside as sectarian violence rises
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The recent attacks are the latest in a series of sectarian-motivated aggressions on Syrian minority groups.
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People sit near of one of the city's waterwheels known as "Norias of Hama" along the Orontes river in Hama, Syria, Saturday, Jan 4, 2025 (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Armed militants have launched multiple attacks on a number of towns in the Hama Countryside, with incidents of looting, arson, and heavy gunfire reported across the region, according to local sources who spoke to Al Mayadeen on Wednesday.
Sources confirmed that militants raided the village of Hourat Amourin, opening fire on residential homes and stealing private vehicles, including cars and motorcycles. Meanwhile, dozens of militants entered the town of Nahr al-Bared in the al-Ghab Plain, northwest of Hama, where they looted homes and shops in the midst of intense gunfire.
Security forces later intervened to prevent further escalation, blocking the militants' advance toward the city of Salhab. The attempted expansion from Hourat Amourin led to further acts of robbery, looting, and arson, according to the same sources.
These developments come amid a broader surge in violence targeting minority communities across Syria following the collapse of the Assad government in December 2024. The humanitarian situation has sharply deteriorated, with reports of systematic persecution, mass displacements, and collapsing public infrastructure.
Minority communities under attack
Since early 2025, the Alawite community has faced alarming levels of targeted violence. UN experts have documented the abduction of at least 38 Alawite women and girls, aged between 3 and 40, across key governorates including Hama, Latakia, Tartous, and Damascus. Victims were taken in broad daylight, with their families receiving threats to deter them from seeking justice.
In a deadly escalation, transitional government forces carried out a series of massacres between March 6–8, targeting Alawite villages in Hama, Latakia, and Tartous. At least 396 people were killed, the majority of whom were civilians, with other estimates suggesting the death toll may have reached 1,500.
On Tuesday, the head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, Paulo Pinheiro, stated that the human rights situation in Syria remains dire, with recent developments worsening the suffering of many.
In an oral update before the Human Rights Council, Pinheiro said that killings, arbitrary arrests, and the detention of individuals from the Alawite community "are still ongoing," along with the seizure and occupation of properties belonging to those who fled the violence last March.
Christian, Druze communities
Christian communities have also come under renewed attack. On June 22, a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside the Mar Elias Church in Damascus during Sunday mass, killing at least 30 and injuring 54 others. The bombing, the first in the capital since Assad's fall, was initially blamed on ISIS, though the group Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah claimed responsibility.
In July, violence exploded in Druze-majority Sweida, where sectarian clashes killed over 1,600 people per the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, including 539 Druze civilians. At least 196 individuals, including women and children, were executed extrajudicially.
Government troops were implicated in systematic killings, with UN reports documenting 429 cases of extrajudicial executions. Entire Druze neighborhoods were looted and burned, and religious figures were targeted with humiliating and sectarian abuse.
