After the fall of Assad, incidents of violence targeting Alawites1025 and Assad regime loyalists were reported - including targeted killings in the reporting period.1026 According to SNHR, 169 people accused of having committed violations during the Assad era were detained by Syrian government forces in 2025, of whom 11 were detained in the month of October,1027 16 in November,1028 and 7 in December.1029 Two more were arrested in the first quarter of 2026.1030
Israeli attacks on Damascus reportedly increased during the Gaza conflict1031 as well as after the fall of Assad.1032 During 2025, Israeli airstrikes hit several sites in Damascus.1033 At least 77 Israeli attacks were recorded in Damascus governorate, and at least 20 in Damascus city.1034
The most fatal security incident in Damascus after the fall of Assad was an alleged ISIL suicide attack at the Greek Orthodox Saint Elias Church in Duweila neighbourhood in June 2025, killing at least 25 and injuring about 60.1035 During the reporting period, no such major incident was reported, although a risk of outbreaks of violence persisted along the route between Damascus and Sweida,1036 where occasional security incidents were reported in the last quarter of 2025,1037 and an alleged Hezbollah bomb attack on a Church in Damascus’ historic Christian neighbourhood Bab Touma was thwarted in April 2026.1038 In May 2026, a car bomb attack reportedly killed at least one soldier and injured about 20 people outside a Syrian Defence Ministry building in Damascus’ Bab Sharqi district.1039
- 1025
Koefoed Khairbek, R., Witness Statement on the Persecution of Alawite Civilians in Syria since 8 December 2024, USCIRF, 13 November 2025, url, p. 2
- 1026
Belgium, CGRS-CEDOCA, Syrië: Veiligheidssituatie (ACLED), 31 March 2026, url, p. 36
- 1027
SNHR, At least 197 Cases of Arbitrary Arrest and Detention Recorded in October 2025, 2 November 2025, url, p. 9
- 1028
SNHR, At least 141 Cases of Arbitrary Arrest and Detention Recorded in November 2025, 2 December 2025, url, p. 8
- 1029
SNHR, At least 1,108 Cases of Arbitrary Arrest and Detention Recorded in 2025, of which 52 were Recorded in December, 3 January 2026, url, p. 11
- 1030
SNHR, No less than 210 Cases of Arbitrary Arrests and Detentions in the First Quarter of 2026, 5 April 2026, url, p. 8
- 1031
Meininghaus, E. and Yildirim-Schlüsing, C., Effects of the Israel-Gaza War on Syria: Multiple New Fronts, LSE Middle East Centre [Blog], 11 September 2024, url; Al Jazeera, Israel-Gaza war spillover risk: Mapping recent strikes in Middle East, 25 January 2024, url
- 1032
Al Jazeera, Mapping Israel’s expanding air attacks across Syria, 4 June 2025, url
- 1033
SNHR, The Fifteenth Annual Report on Human Rights Situation in Syria 2025, 26 March 2026, url, p. 13
- 1034
Al Jazeera, Israel attacked Syria more than 600 times over the past year, 9 December 2025, url
- 1035
SNHR, Statement on the Bombing of Mar Elias Church in Damascus: The Need to Protect the Crime Scene - SNHR Condemns the Suicide Attack that Targeted the Church Causing a Massacre that Claimed the Lives of 25 Civilians and Injured 63 Others in a Preliminary Toll, 23 June 2025, url, p. 1; SNHR, The Death of 2818 Civilian Including 201 Children and 194 Women, and 17 Death due to Torture Recorded in the First Half of 2025, 3 July 2025, url, pp. 6, 13; Netherlands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Country of Origin Information Report on Syria, 30 January 2026, url, p. 39
- 1036
INSO, Safety and Access Review: Q4 2025, 2026, url, p. 37
- 1037
UNOCHA, Humanitarian Response in Southern Syria – Humanitarian Situation Report No. 3, 13 November 2025, url, p. 2
- 1038
Shafaq News, Syria accuses Hezbollah in foiled Damascus bombing, 11 April 2026, url; Levant24, Syrian Security Stops Alleged Hezbollah Terror Attack in Damascus, 12 April 2026, url
- 1039
Reuters, Syrian soldier killed, 18 people wounded by car bomb in Damascus, 19 May 2026, url; Al Jazeera, At least one killed, 21 wounded in car bomb explosion in Syria’s Damascus, 19 May 2026, url