Protests by Alawite community in Syria's Latakia province on December 28, 2025. Photo: State media
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Syrian security forces on Sunday shot at Alawite protesters calling for federalism in the coastal province of Latakia, injuring dozens, reported a war monitor. State media claimed that some members of the security forces were also wounded.
The demonstrations followed a call by Ghazal Ghazal, a leader of the country’s Alawite community, a day earlier, as well as a deadly attack on an Alawite mosque on Friday.
“In a dangerous development, dozens of protesters were injured in the cities of Latakia and Jableh after being attacked with live gunfire and bladed weapons by General Security forces [police] and supporters of the transitional authority,” said the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Sunday, publishing footage purportedly showing members of the security forces shooting at demonstrators.
It added that some of the injuries are serious.
The state-owned al-Ikhbariya TV said the protests were in reaction to the Friday blast at the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in Homs province. It also confirmed the deployment of security forces to the area.
The broadcaster also reported attacks on members of the security forces in Latakia while they were “protecting” the protesters.
Abdul Aziz al-Ahmed, head of Internal Security in Latakia province, was cited in an interior ministry statement as claiming the presence of “masked and armed elements” of armed groups Damascus labels as terrorists. He added that some members of the security forces were injured and their vehicles were damaged.
In his call for protests, Ghazal said they do not want a civil war but “political federalism.”
“We want our right to self-determination,” he said in an apparent message to the transitional government in Damascus, led by Islamist figures. “Our appointment is tomorrow from twelve o'clock until five o'clock in the afternoon, Sunday.”
The protesters also called for federalism.
Ghazal’s call follows Friday’s explosion at the Alawite mosque, which killed at least eight people and wounded around 20 others. A radical Sunni Islamist militant group, Saraya Ansar al-Sunna, claimed responsibility, saying the attack was carried out “in cooperation with mujahideen [jihadists] from another group.”
No one has been arrested over the blast.
Violence has persisted in parts of Syria since the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad by the now-dissolved jihadist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Its former leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, now serves as interim president.
The interim authorities have faced mounting criticism over their centralized style of governance. In March, Sharaa signed a constitutional declaration emphasizing Islamic jurisprudence, drawing backlash from Alawite, Christian, Druze, and Kurdish communities, who viewed it as exclusionary.
Calls for decentralization or federalism have grown among Alawites, Druze, and Kurds following waves of violence, especially after clashes left nearly 800 dead in the Druze-majority Suwayda province in mid-July and in Alawite-majority coastal regions in March, which war monitors say left nearly 2,000 people dead. Damascus and its affiliated forces have been held responsible for killing many civilians.
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