10 Killed in Syria in Apparent Sectarian Violence: War Monitor
Ten people were shot dead Friday night in the central Syrian village of Arza, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Saturday. The identity of the perpetrators remain unknown, and officials in Syria have not commented on the incident.
The village of Arza is populated mostly by members of Syria’s Alawite minority, a group to which deposed Syrian leader Bashar Assad belonged. According to the SOHR, gunmen knocked on the doors of several houses in the village and then shot civilians dead using guns equipped with silencers.
This holiday season, give to:
Truth and understanding
The Media Line's intrepid correspondents are in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan providing first-person reporting.
They all said they cover it.
We see it.
We report with just one agenda: the truth.
The SOHR expressed concerns about the rise of sectarian violence in the wake of Assad’s fall from power. Since the beginning of 2025, 220 people have been killed in Syria in “retaliatory actions,” the war monitor said.
Days before Friday’s attack, the war monitor published a statement highlighting the “urgent need for decisive measures to protect civilians and hold perpetrators accountable.” It said that much of the recent violence was the result of “undisciplined groups” joining the Syrian Military Operations Command following the ousting of Assad.
Syria’s new leadership has promised to prevent retaliatory violence as the nation rebuilds from the years-long civil war and humanitarian crisis.
