Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Week 20

Tracking the spread of new security forces and security incidents in post-Assad Syria from April 21 to April 27

Announcements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. Content is categorized as deployment, crime, statement, arrest, operation. 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 provided throughout.

• Aleppo

• Damascus

• Coast

• Homs

• Hama

Random violence against Alawites escalated this week across different parts of the country, but unlike in early March the violence now appears to be largely committed by armed Sunni civilians. In Homs, a local tribe engaged in several days of violent attacks against Alawites in the city, with the Homs Alawite Council also accusing the tribe of conducting attacks against General Security units. In Homs, Aleppo, and Hama, vigilante attacks against ex-regime criminals have also spiked as some Sunnis have grown angry at the lack of transitional justice. In the coast, weapons handovers continue and violence has generally subsided, but thefts and harassment from off-duty factions in the countryside and random kidnappings are ongoing, keeping the whole region trapped in a state of absolute fear.