7 Alawites missing in Damascus amid rising tensions

Shafaq News/ Seven Syrian citizens from the Alawite community have disappeared in Damascus, stirring concerns over their fate and casting a fresh spotlight on the challenges faced by Syria’s Alawite minority since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Sunday that the missing individuals were last seen returning from work at a restaurant in Qasioun Mall, Barzeh district. Activists reported losing contact with them around 3 a.m. when their daily transport vehicle entered Ash al-Warwar neighborhood, an Alawite stronghold in the capital.

Later that morning, the vehicle was found abandoned near the Police Hospital along the international highway, with no trace of them.

Since al-Assad’s ouster, Syria’s Alawite community has faced intensified violence, political marginalization, and economic decline. The Alawites, once a pillar of al-Assad’s security apparatus, have found themselves vulnerable to retribution and systemic challenges.

Reports indicate that more than 1,383 Alawite civilians have been killed in retaliatory attacks since the regime’s collapse. Thousands more have fled traditional strongholds in Latakia and Tartus, fearing reprisals from armed opposition groups. Alawite religious sites have also been targeted, including the torching of the revered shrine of al-Khasibi in Aleppo, sparking protests in Alawite-majority areas.