News Center — Several regions in Syria are witnessing a notable rise in sectarian killings during the current month of April, targeting civilians amid continued security chaos and escalating sectarian rhetoric.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented the killing of 13 people, including one girl and two women, most of them from the Alawite community, during April in a series of liquidation operations that affected various cities and areas.

Since the beginning of this month, several Syrian regions have witnessed a wave of scattered security incidents that have resulted in the deaths of a number of civilians. These incidents have varied between direct shootings, organized liquidation operations, and scattered acts of violence, reflecting the continued state of security chaos and the exacerbation of local tensions.

Growing concerns

These incidents have raised growing concerns about the escalation of targeting motives based on sectarian affiliation, amid an almost complete absence of legal accountability and prosecution. The victims were distributed across the cities of Homs, Hama, Damascus, and Tartus, reflecting the widening scope of security tension and the multiplicity of violence patterns in different areas of the country.

These developments come amid complex field conditions in Syria, which increase the fragility of the security situation and multiply the risks faced by civilians. With the continuation of this pattern, the number of victims of retaliatory behaviors and extrajudicial liquidation operations since the beginning of this year in various Syrian cities has risen to 75 people, including 66 men, 7 women, and two children, reflecting the widening scope of security chaos and the growth of violence manifestations.

These incidents, with their patterns of violent killings and serious assaults on civilians, indicate the continued deterioration of the security situation and the widening circle of violations affecting the right to life and physical integrity, raising serious concerns about the absence of actual guarantees to protect civilians.

This underscores the urgent need to open independent and transparent investigations into all the aforementioned incidents, and to hold those responsible accountable, regardless of the executing parties, in line with the rules of international human rights law and criminal justice standards, ensuring that perpetrators of violations do not escape punishment. It also highlights the necessity of strengthening legal and security protection measures for civilians and putting an end to recurring cycles of violence, contributing to the consolidation of the rule of law and the preservation of human dignity without discrimination.