Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 8

Tracking the spread of new security forces and security incidents in post-Assad Syria from January 26 to February 1

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.

• Northeast

• Aleppo and Idlib

• Damascus

• Coast

• Homs

• Hama

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.