<![CDATA[Syria Revisited: Security Weekly]]>

<![CDATA[Syria Revisited: Security Weekly]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/s/security-weeklyhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!f58w!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa001939d-2300-41fb-91ee-12d42335d86b_4032x3024.jpegSyria Revisited: Security Weeklyhttps://www.syriarevisited.com/s/security-weeklySubstackSun, 28 Jun 2026 12:33:15 GMT<![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 28]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-c8fhttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-c8fMon, 22 Jun 2026 05:21:00 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

This week began with two more days of transitional justice protests across Sunni communities in central Syria, continuing on from the mass protests that began on June 14. In Damascus city, the protests turned to mob attacks against the Alawi-majority neighborhood of Mezzeh, and in Palmyra the protests turned violent when ex-regime members fired on demonstrators. However, unlike June 14, there were no deaths during the protests on either of these day. In response, the government conducted a sweeping arrest campaign of dozens of ex-regime Sunni fighters in Aleppo, Idlib, Homs, and Dara’a. Another half-dozen senior officers were also arrested across the country throughout the week. Meanwhile, ISIS conducted several low-level attacks in eastern Aleppo, Raqqa, and Hasakah

]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 27]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-ef9https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-ef9Tue, 16 Jun 2026 05:35:11 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

Aleppo and Idlib
Damascus
Coast
Homs
Hama

This week saw limited violence until June 14. Prior to this, two sectarian-motivated killings against Shia men were committed in Aleppo and Damascus, while an armed robbery attempt in a mostly minority neighborhood in Homs ended with the attacker dead.

However, Sunni-on-Sunni violence escalated sharply this week. Two bedouin families clashed in Homs city, including one family attacking local MoI units, Between June 13 and June 14, more than a dozen Sunni towns across the country saw intense riots targeting local ex-regime shabiha. Several former regime elements were killed. The Ministry of Interior and various community leaders put out calls for peace late on June 14, but riots continued into the evening of June 15.

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]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 26]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-278https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-278Mon, 08 Jun 2026 04:50:14 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

This week saw an escalation in violence in Hama governorate. Two Alawi and one Sunni ex-soldiers were killed in vigilante attacks in east and north Hama. Additionally, four Alawi men were killed in drive-by shootings in both west and east Hama at the end of the week.

Security forces carried out a series of arrests in Aleppo, Tartous, and Homs targeting theft, drug, and weapons gangs. Arrest campaigns against ex-regime soldiers have also continued, targeting both Sunni and Alawi men. The Ministry of Interior released a statement this week claiming that nearly 400 such men had been detained over the past three months.

]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 25]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-c51https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-c51Mon, 01 Jun 2026 04:23:34 GMTNote: I had to skip the previous three weeks of this publication as I was conducting field work in Syria.

Announcements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

This week saw several violent incidents across western Syria attributed to a range of motivations. Sectarian-motivated shootings were conducted in Homs City and western Hama, while a potential insurgent attack was carried out in Latakia. An ISIS attacker was also killed in Aleppo.

Anger over the lack of transitional justice within Sunni communities has also continued. In Aleppo, protests were held in a town demanding the expulsion of local Assad-era shabiha. In Qomhana, two former regime fighters were executed by locals. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior held several meetings with foreign delegations while local commanders conducted a number of tours of different departments in the lead up to Eid.

]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 21]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-d29https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-d29Mon, 04 May 2026 00:43:11 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

This week saw an increase in vigilante and sectarian killings after a multi-week lull. A rare vigilante killing was conducted in al-Ghab, likely a result of the increased tensions in the region following the arrest of Amjad Yusuf there last week. Several Alawi men were killed in Homs city and its countryside. Some of the murders appear to have been linked to war-time events given their targeted nature. Sunnis victims were also killed in murders and disputes in Hama, Damascus, and Latakia. An MoD member was also reportedly arrested this week by the Military Police for conducting a vigilante killing in Hama.

Security forces have arrested many ex-regime criminals throughout April, detaining men at a far greater rate than previously seen. This week saw at least 11 such arrest operations, some targeting more than one man. Most of these targeted men linked to the regime’s intelligence services, but high profile officers were also arrested. Security forces in Raqqa also conducted three arrests at the end of the week against ex-SDF intelligence and military officials in the governorate.

At the same time, the government continues to release regime POWs from prison this month, generally 1-2 batches per week. This week was no exception, and the trend suggests an accelerated effort by Damascus to process and release ex-soldiers with clean records.

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]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 20]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-208https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-208Mon, 27 Apr 2026 16:32:53 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

Violent incidents continued to reduce this week. An off-duty army member was found killed at the Blue Beach Chalet in Latakia, following several days of complaints by locals that tourists were bringing weapons to the beach. Inter-tribal disputes also erupted in Hama, where a large firefight at the sheep market resulted in the MoI shutting the market down, and in Homs, where a Bedouin man was stabbed in a fight with another man, resulting in online misinformation campaigns blaming Alawis and Bedouin mobilization.

The most significant security developments this week occurred in the transitional justice file. Amjad Yousef, the infamous perpetrator of the Tadamon massacre, was captured in his home in rural Hama. His arrest and his family’s protection of him has led to significant online threats against the village, and local Sunnis attempted to storm the village late this week. At the same time, the first trial of a former regime official began in Damascus on Sunday. Meanwhile, the government continues to release ex-regime POWs captured during the 2024 offensive.

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]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 19]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-596https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-596Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:28:23 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

Northeast
Aleppo and Idlib
Damascus
Coast
Homs
Hama

Violent incidents reduced this week, with no sectarian killings reported in Homs city. An Alawi man was killed in his home in Baniyas in what was reported as an attack linked to online gambling disputes.

Security forces conducted several large operations this week, targeting significant narcotics and weapons shipments as well as insurgent cells. This includes a three-man Hezbollah cell captured in Qunietra along with mobile rocket launchers. At least five regime-era criminals were also detained by security forces, while a well-known Sunni informant was executed in Homs City. Meanwhile, the government continues near-weekly releases of former regime soldiers from prisons across the country.

]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 18]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-0fdhttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-0fdMon, 13 Apr 2026 03:29:57 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

This week saw a slight increase in violence, with five murders in Homs city in particular. Among the dead was a family of three Alawis who were targeted by gunmen reportedly after the wife had shared old photos on Facebook showing that her husband had served in the regime’s forces. At least two kidnapping executions also took place this week, one each in Homs and Damascus.

Meanwhile, security forces arrested at least five regime-era criminals, continuing a recent trend this year. Major counter-narcotics operations were also conducted in border regions including two joint busts alongside the Iraqi and Jordanian governments. Lastly, late in the week government forces prevented a Hezbollah operation attempting to kill a senior Syrian Rabbi in Damascus, detaining the five-person cell.

]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 17]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-39bhttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-39bMon, 06 Apr 2026 18:50:09 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

Violence remained at a lower, though still consistent, level this week than the first two months of the year. For the fifth week in a row there was only one reported murder in Homs City, and violence in the Homs countryside also remained minimal. However, there has been growing anger by some Sunni residents in Talkalakh over alleged corruption and abuses by the security official in the area.

The most significant incidents this week came in Hama governorate, following the prior week’s events in Suqaylabiyah. Two Alawi men were murdered in Masyaf, a string of robberies were reported in al-Ghab, and Sunni ex-regime fighters attacked a local MoD member in northwest Hama, triggering a multi-day military operation in the town.

Meanwhile security operations continue across the country, still largely focused on regular crime. A large kidnapping ring was dismantled in Aleppo and three men responsible for killing a taxi driver outside Homs recently were arrested. At the same time, at least six ex-regime criminals were arrested in Homs and Hama.

]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 16]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-edahttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-edaTue, 31 Mar 2026 21:55:05 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

Violent events remained minimal this week, but the social fragility of some areas was also highlighted. Attacks in Homs city continue to drop with only one murder reported, and of a Sunni resident. However, a rare murder in rural Latakia and a violent armed robbery in rural Tartous underscore the ongoing dangers in these areas. Furthermore, a small personal conflict in rural Hama erupted into a large mob attack against the Christian village of Suqaylabiyah.

Security forces conducted numerous arrests of criminals throughout the week. These including kidnapping gangs, drug smugglers, and thieves. Interestingly, five regime-era criminals were arrested across the country, and the commander of another regime insurgent faction was killed in a security operation in Latakia.

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]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 15]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-f53https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-f53Mon, 23 Mar 2026 16:24:17 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

This week saw continued protests and tensions across the northeast related to the ongoing integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces. A video showing a Kurdish man removing the Syrian flag during a Newroz celebration in Kobani triggered a wave of protests in Arab areas, as well as mob violence against Kurdish civilians in Afrin. This in turn resulted in mob attacks against ISC offices in Qamishli and Hasakah and resulted in a series of statements by government and Kurdish leaders condemning all of the actions.

Meanwhile, low-level but persistent violence continued with several murders reported in Homs, Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia. Some of the murders were the result of family disputes, others random sectarian killings, and at least one potentially linked to vigilantism. An Alawi shrine was also attacked in rural Masyaf, the first violent incident in the district since late December.

]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 14]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-b5fhttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-b5fMon, 16 Mar 2026 17:36:33 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

Violent incidents in Syria continue to be centered in the Homs governorate, though still not to the degree seen earlier this year. This week saw tensions rise in western Homs, where security operations targeting Sunni smuggling and criminal groups triggered an attack against the local security station. A vigilante killing was also conducted in rural Hama, the first in a long time.

Meanwhile, significant steps were taken this week in the northeast integration deal, including the deployment of Ministry of Interior forces to half a dozen new checkpoints in Hasakah. The new Assistant Minister of Defense for the Eastern Regions was also appointed this week, triggering widespread protests across Raqqa, Hasakah, and Aleppo.

The Ministry of Interior continued to expand this week, with new cadet graduations in both Idlib and Latakia and the opening of the Women’s Police Institute in Damascus.

]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 13]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-e48https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-e48Mon, 09 Mar 2026 04:33:52 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

Violent incidents dropped this week following several weeks of near daily killings and attacks, mostly in Homs city. Several men were killed in Homs city and its countryside, as well as a rare murder of an Alawi man in Damascus city. At the same time, ISIS attacks continue in eastern and northern Syria with more than five soldiers left dead. Multiple attempted ISIS operations were also thwarted, including a car bombing in southern Damascus. Government security and intelligence operations appear to have grown substantially in eastern Syria this week, with numerous reports of arrests and deployments across Raqqa and Deir Ez Zor.

Aleppo governorate saw a series of violent incidents late this week, including the murder of a family of four in Aleppo city and the killing of a young girl in southern Aleppo as a result of failed tribal mediation. Tensions in eastern Aleppo also exploded on March 7, when displaced Arab residents of Shuyukh clashed with General Security and SDF forces. This issue, detailed below, remains unresolved and likely to escalate without outside intervention.

]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 12]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-c59https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-c59Mon, 02 Mar 2026 16:30:01 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

This week saw near daily violent incident in Homs city, a continuation of escalating violence in the city throughout February. Killings and attacks against security forces were concentrated in and around Akrama neighborhood, but extended north to Zahraa and Abbasiyah. Violence included attacks against minorities and security forces.

This year’s trends of protests across the country continued, with a series of protests in Arab town in the northeast against the reintroduction of SDF forces, protests in Raqqa against the People’s Assembly selection process, and protest and violence in Palmyra due to tensions over a lack of transitional justice.

The week began with a major security operation in the coast, the first one since January, targeting the same belt of villages in the southeast Jableh countryside where ex-Assad insurgents remain active. One civilian was killed in the raid, along with one security member and three insurgents, including two commanders.

Meanwhile, ISIS attacks increased in the northeast, all in the same manner as previously conducted against SDF positions prior to the government’s takeover. Counter-ISIS campaigns ramped up in the response, with several arrests made in Deir Ez Zor.

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]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 9]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-a22https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-a22Sun, 08 Feb 2026 21:38:41 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

Northeast
Aleppo and Idlib
Damascus
Coast
Homs
Hama

This week, two likely sectarian-motivated attacks were conducted by unknown gunmen in Homs City and Talkalakh, the first such attacks in many weeks. Security forces continued to arrest drug networks and criminal cells involved in robbery and the MoI expanded its presence across parts of the SDF-controlled northeast, holding several meetings with SDF officials throughout the week. Meanwhile, it appears the government launched a new arrest campaign, detaining at least seven former military doctors from Tishreen Military Hospital this week in Damascus, Homs, and Tartous.

This was also the second week in a row which saw Syrians in different parts of the country holding protests for specific issues impacting them. Sunni and Alawi teachers protested new decisions by their ministries and the ongoing dismissals of municipal employees, Arabs across the northeast staged demonstrations against SDF crimes, and security members from Deir Ez Zor held a demonstration against the government’s release of local regime-era criminals.

]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 8]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-4e3https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-4e3Mon, 02 Feb 2026 06:12:45 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

This week saw the full cessation of fighting in the northeast, as Damascus and the SDF appear to have reached a new integration deal. As a result, new Interior Ministry appointments have been made in Hasakah and General Security deployments have expanded across Raqqa, Aleppo, and Hasakah.

Outside of the northeast, intercommunal, vigilante, and sectarian violence remains at an all time low. Local security forces have also advertised arrests against criminals more than armed groups recently, suggesting that the security threat in the country is gradually shifting from armed insurgent groups to regular criminal groups.

Several important security administrative steps were taken this week as well. More than 100 Assad regime soldiers who had been captured during the final battles in 2024 were released from prison, new settlement centers were opened in former SDF areas, and ex-regime Alawi police officers continue to be rehired in Alawi regions.

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]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 7]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-2f2https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-2f2Mon, 26 Jan 2026 05:46:56 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

Northeast
Aleppo and Idlib
Damascus
Coast
Homs
Hama

The SDF-Damascus clashes continued this week, with government forces expanding their control over Arab areas of Hasakah, Raqqa, and Aleppo governorates. Government forces also took control of several ISIS prisons, including al-Hol Camp. However, two ceasefire agreements on January 20 and 25 have seen the territorial advances largely stop, though exchanges of fire and drone attacks continue. This weekly report will focus on the larger state building actions taken in the northeast this week, rather than tracking each military event (this will come in a later report).

Outside of the northeast, security forces arrested several ex-regime officers in Damascus and Hama, conducted coordinated raids against regime insurgents in Latakia, and rescued two previously kidnapped men in rural Damascus. Local violence continues to be at an all time low, with three shootings recorded in Latakia, Homs, and Hama. The killing in Hama, which occurred in rural Salamiyah, resulted in a rare local protests calling for an end to random attacks and expanded disarmament campaigns in the area.

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]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 6]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-0c3https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-0c3Mon, 19 Jan 2026 20:49:32 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

This week saw a continuation of the Damascus-SDF conflict following last week’s battle in Aleppo city. Following the SDF’s rapid loss of Sheikh Maqsoud, Damascus and the U.S. called on SDF forces to withdraw from all positions west of the Euphrates. SDF leaders refused and both sides mobilized along the Deir Hafer front. On January 16, Sharaa released a new presidential decree enshrining several key cultural and legal rights to Syrian Kurds. This was followed shortly by an announcement from the SDF on a unilateral withdrawal from “east Aleppo” which would begin the next day. However, SDF forces only partially withdrew and refused to leave southern Raqqa. January 17 saw the start of a large military campaign by Damascus forces against these positions. Despite Kurdish and Alawi forces defending some areas, the SDF quickly collapsed. Local Arab simultaneously began to mobilize against SDF forces in their areas of Raqqa city and Deir Ez Zor. By January 18, locals had expelled the SDF from all of Deir Ez Zor and most of Raqqa city, with government military forces quickly filling the voids and advancing into southern Hasakah. A ceasefire and new integration terms were announced at 7pm on January 18.

Elsewhere in the country small levels of violence continued in Homs, with two shootings and one assassination of a security member, and in the coast, with several robberies in rural Latakia and a rare murder of an Alawi man in southern Tartous. Overall, however, security incidents outside of eastern Syria had decreased this week.

]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 5]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-c4bhttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-c4bMon, 12 Jan 2026 05:55:32 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

This week’s security events were dominated by the five-day battle in Aleppo city between Damascus and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for control of three neighborhoods in the northern part of the city. This weekly update includes a detailed day-by-day look at how the battle unfolded.

However, security events continued elsewhere in the country as well. General Security units conducted several arrest operations across the coast and Hama targeted regime insurgents with insurgents and/or criminals conducting several low-level attacks of their own.

While targeted and sectarian killings reduced compared to last week, Homs city was rocked this week by a drive-by shooting at the al-Kindi Hospital which left four doctors and nurses dead and multiple Alawi men were killed in rural eastern Homs by unknown gunmen.

]]><![CDATA[Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 4]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-820https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rebuilding-security-in-new-syria-820Mon, 05 Jan 2026 14:38:58 GMTAnnouncements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources are provided throughout.

This week saw significant security operations in the coast, a continuation of the tensions last week both before and during the December 27 protests, with more than one arrest operation per day on average. It was also the second week in a row with a major ISIS attack, this time involving a suicide bomber and gunman attempting to target a church in Aleppo city. However, security forces were able to protect the church, with the bomber detonating himself at a checkpoint killing one police officer.

Meanwhile, targeted and sectarian killings were widespread this week in Damascus, Homs, and Hama. In total, ten Sunni, Alawi, and Shia men were killed by gunmen. Some killings were explicitly linked to past involvement in regime forces, others appeared targeted but with unclear motivations, while at least two were random sectarian-motivated murders conducted by semi-nomadic Bedouins.

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