Protests erupted across Syria on Wednesday after a video circulated showing an attack on an Alawite shrine in Aleppo. In the central city of Homs, security forces opened fire to disperse demonstrators, killing one protester and injuring five others, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
UNREST IN SYRIA:
Today protests have broken out in Homs, Lattakia and Damascus from the Alawite community, which was outraged following a video that was leaked.
The video circulating appeared to show anti-Assad forces at the shrine of one of the principle founders of the… pic.twitter.com/nkTcbubMft
— Rami Jarrah (@RamiJarrah) December 25, 2024
Protests also erupted in several cities, including Tartus, Latakia, and Jableh, all of which are strongholds of the Alawite community, to which former President Bashar al-Assad belongs.
In these cities, large crowds gathered, chanting against religious discrimination. In Jableh, demonstrator Ali Daoud stated: “We are calling for those who attacked the shrine to be held to account.” In response to the unrest, authorities imposed nighttime curfews in Homs and Jableh to maintain control.
*Demonstrations in Jableh in protest against the security chaos and attacks on the religious symbols and sanctities of the Alawite sect*
Al nusre Cutingoff Internet service there no information about what’s really happend from there place’s pic.twitter.com/gw9RXLqxRf
— Rojava Plus (@rojavaplus) December 25, 2024
The circulating video causing the unrest, allegedly filmed earlier in December during Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) offensive to seize Aleppo, shows an attack on a shrine in Aleppo’s Maysaloon district, where five workers were killed, and the building was set ablaze. Authorities are now investigating the shrine attack.
On the morning of Wednesday, December 25, a video was circulated, allegedly recorded recently, showing armed men entering the shrine of “Abu Abdullah Hussein Al-Khasibi, the Sheikh of Alawites worldwide.”pic.twitter.com/HpTh8FFPSI https://t.co/dByglO4qse
— Wladimir van Wilgenburg (@vvanwilgenburg) December 25, 2024
The transitional authorities claimed the video was “old” and blamed “unknown groups” for the attack, accusing those sharing it of stirring unrest.
The recent protests are the largest by the Alawite community since Assad’s fall earlier this month.
The demonstrations come after hundreds of protesters gathered in Christian neighborhoods of Damascus to condemn the burning of a Christmas tree near Hama in central Syria. The HTS, which denied involvement, has vowed to replace it swiftly.
