2.5.4. Security incidents

Between 1 October 2025 and 31 May 2026, ACLED recorded 23 security incidents in Tartous governorate. Of these, 8 were coded as explosions/remote violence, 2 as battles, and 13 as incidents of violence against civilians. The highest number of the incidents was documented in October 2025 (9 incidents). An analysis of ACLED data for the period since the fall of Bashar Al-Assad, from 9 December 2024 to 31 May 2026, indicates one peak in security incidents in the governorate in March 2025, with 85 incidents,727 coinciding with the wave of sectarian violence in that month.728 Besides May 2025 with 20 security incidents, the monthly number of incidents between April 2025 and October 2025 was below 10. In the period from November 2025 until May 2026 the number of monthly incidents further decreased and varied between 1 and 5.729

During the reference period, ACLED recorded security incidents in two of the six districts of Tartous governorate, in Tartous (13 incidents) and Banyas (10 incidents). Tartous and Banyas were also the districts with the highest number of incidents recorded in the governorate since the fall of Bashar Al-Assad.

According to ACLED data, unidentified armed groups were the main actors involved in security incidents during the reference period, appearing in around 70 % of all recorded incidents, either coded as Actor 1 or Actor 2. Military and police forces were linked to approximately 35 % of the incidents (either coded as Actor 1 or Actor 2).731 A comparison between the current reference period and the overall security situation since 9 December 2024 suggests that actors such as military forces and military forces of Israel became less relevant or irrelevant in security incidents in the governorate. Unidentified armed groups became the predominant actor in the governorate.732

13 security incidents during the reporting period were coded as ‘violence against civilians’, including 8 lethal cases, most of them involving unidentified armed groups.733