Renewed sectarian violence in majority Christian town, Alawites killed in separate incidents

A large number of Muslims attacked the majority Christian town of Suqaylabiyah near Hama, Syria on 3 October.

Violence broke out after two young men from the neighbouring Muslim town of Qalaat al-Madiq tried to harass and intimidate a local shop owner, but were subsequently assaulted and forced to flee. Upon returning to their hometown, they gathered a mob which attacked Suqaylabiyah at night. Several houses and shops were damaged and looted by the attackers, who fired guns randomly, and an Alawite woman received minor injuries.

The police were deployed quickly and arrested several attackers and two Christian men who CSW’s sources in Suqaylabiyah report were released on 5 October.   

Father Fadi Sankari, the Orthodox priest of Suqaylabiyah said in a statement on his Facebook page: ‘Syrian Christians are not seeking chaos or revenge, but we don’t want our people to live with fear, or the repeat of the plight and destruction we witnessed before.’

Sectarian violence previously broke out in Suqaylabiyah in March 2026, after two young Muslim men from Qalaat al-Madiq were assaulted for verbally harassing Christian women in Suqaylabiyah. Dozens of men on motorcycles subsequently stormed the town, attacking shops, properties and cars, and firing guns in the air. The incident prompted leaders from the Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox churches to issue statements announcing that public celebrations of Easter would not take place. 

In a separate development, unidentified armed assailants opened fire on a minibus carrying seven Alawite oil and gas engineers and workers near the village of Fahel in Homs countryside on 30 September. All seven occupants of the vehicle were killed. Days later, on 4 October, three young Alawite men were killed and a fourth was seriously injured in an attack near the village of Beit Awad in Tartus countryside.

CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘CSW condemns this latest outbreak of sectarian violence in Suqaylabiyah. We are also deeply concerned by the repeated killings of innocent Alawite civilians, and extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims of these deplorable attacks. We urge the authorities to prioritise the protection of vulnerable communities, and reiterate our call for the international community to press the Syrian government to address extremism, hate speech and sectarian incitement as a matter of urgency.’