Several cities in Syria have been rocked by protests this week demanding accountability for officials from deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime presumed to be guilty of war crimes.
The protests were triggered by a series of issues such as frustrations with the slow pace of transitional justice, the recent discovery of a mass grave, and the high cost of living.
In Tadmor (also known as Palmyra) in central Syria, protesters attacked the homes of people they accused of being affiliated with the former regime, which was toppled in December 2024 following a rebel advance led by current President Ahmed al-Sharaa .
In videos shared on social media , buildings and vehicles were seen set ablaze in the city. Groups of men could be seen riding motorcycles to the homes of neighbours they accused of being Shabiha (thugs and militia) from the Assad regime. People from both sides can also be seen hurling stones at each other, in other footage.
Tadmor has now witnessed three consecutive days of such protests. Scores of people sustained injuries as they clashed with security forces in these demonstrations, which have spread to other parts of the country.
On Tuesday evening, tensions intensified in the Alawite-majority area of Mazzeh 86 in the Syrian capital Damascus, following a demonstration that began in the neighbouring Sheikh Saad area. The situation escalated into some acts of vandalism targeting several private properties , according to local sources.
Some participants chanted slogans calling on residents to leave or face retribution, sparking fear and anxiety. Former dictator Bashar al-Assad and many of his inner circle were from the Alawite community.
Additionally, security services reportedly told residents of the district to close their homes and businesses amid the rising tensions.
Security forces were also deployed in the area shortly after the tensions began, establishing checkpoints at the entrances to the neighbourhood, sources told The New Arab .
Similar protests demanding the expulsion of people accused of being part of the Assad regime also took place in towns and cities in Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, and Daraa provinces on Monday evening. Incidents of vandalism have also been reported. What sparked these protests? Tam Hussein, a journalist specialising in Syrian affairs, told The New Arab that a number of issues have triggered these demonstrations, accumulating into anger and incidents of violence.
Several weeks ago, in the Damascus neighbourhood of Ish al-Warwar, a mass grave containing at least 15 bodies was found. The bodies are believed to be of people who were detained by the Assad regime and then killed. Some were found with ropes tied around their limbs.
The incident sparked anger in Syria and was reminiscent of similar incidents that unfolded following the toppling of the Assad regime. In the aftermath of its ouster, many mass graves were uncovered, where corpses of those detained or forcibly disappeared over the decades were found.
Growing resentment has also grown in Damascus’s Mazzeh area over property issues, Hussein said.
Several decades ago, the Assad regime had given away homes belonging to Damascene families to members of the Alawite community originally from Syria’s coastal areas, with some of them working as officials in the regime.
Additionally, millions of Syrians continue to live in poverty amid rising costs of living. Frustration over this has also sparked these protests, Hussein added, and many are projecting their anger onto the Alawite population. Sectarianism fears The protests and tension have triggered fears over growing sectarianism in the country, as religious minorities have been subjected to a number of assaults since Ahmed al-Sharaa took over as president after Assad’s ouster.
In March last year, hundreds of Alawites were killed in massacres on Syria's coast after remnants of the Assad regime launched a violent uprising. In the Druze-majority province of Suweida, fighting broke out in July 2025 between local Druze militias and mostly Sunni Bedouin tribes, with hundreds of people massacred.
The government has begun trials for some of those involved in the massacres but the process has been slow and opaque.
Amid this current violence, Hussein said the Alawite community is now worried again, especially if the protests intensify and aren't addressed.
The journalist added that it is in the government’s interest to ensure the safety of Syria's minorities.
“Minority groups' treatment is a lightning rod for the government. If they succeed in protecting them, that means they'll be far more acceptable to the international community,” he said, in a reference to Syria's improving but still complex relations with Western countries.
Syria has seen the the lifting of most sanctions, investment, and a return to the international political arena since December 2024.
Commentator and author Robin Yassin-Kassab stressed the sectarian nature of these protests, which he says have now evolved into riots.
“These riots are terrible for two reasons: First of all, it’s a general sectarian thing. Maybe in some cases, they're going to actual criminals, but in other cases, they’re just going to places where Alawites live.”
“That’s awful. If Syria can't calm down its sectarianism and its identity politics, it's going to continue in this kind of no-war, no peace, unstable situation. It will be a country no one wants to visit, no one wants to invest in, and it won't be safe and comfortable for anyone of any sect,” Yassin-Kassab said. Transitional justice failings Since Assad's fall, the Sharaa government has pledged to arrest and hold accountable those affiliated with his regime who carried out war crimes, torture, and human rights violations during the 2011-24 Syrian conflict, which killed around half a million Syrians.
Since then, government forces have carried out military operations and arrests against such individuals. In April, the first trial against a former Assad regime official took place in a landmark event.
Atef Najib, the former head of the Political Security intelligence agency in the southern city of Deraa and a first cousin of Bashar al-Assad, is currently facing trial on a number of charges, including ones related to the torture of children who were detained after writing anti-government graffiti on a wall in one of the most notorious incidents of the Syrian revolution.
Despite this progress, Hussein says several Syrians fear that “not enough” is being done to punish the Assad-era figures, and several gaps remain. He pointed to the lack of a newly-trained judiciary as a major reason for this lack of progress.
“Syrians are divided over how much the state should forgive, and how much the government hears the people’s calls,” he said.
“It’s still not clear how the government can strike that balance,” he added, but stressed that the crimes suffered at the hands of Assad and his entourage remain “an open wound” in Syria.
Yassin-Kassab criticised the government over its inaction concerning the protests.
The author said officials aren't punishing protesters who “are taking the law into their own hands,” and said Ahmed al-Sharaa should address these protests publicly.
He also pointed out that some Sunni Muslims also served in the Assad regime, and that innocent Alawites are “paying the price" for the crimes committed during the Assad era.
The protests, however, could likely persist for some time, given the sensitivity of the issue, Hussein warned, as well as the frustrations over the rising cost of living.
He also alluded that some in Syria believe that the government could be “pushing” these protests to distract from their shortcomings.