The de facto authority in Syria carried out attacks against unarmed civilians from the Alawite community who took part in peaceful demonstrations demanding their fundamental right to life, deploying armored vehicles and tanks instead of dialogue, and live ammunition instead of words.

Unarmed civilians—posing no threat and carrying nothing but their voices—were met with overwhelming military force, constituting a grave violation of international humanitarian law and the rules protecting civilians, and a crime that cannot be justified under any pretext.

📌 Targeting peaceful assemblies constitutes a violation of the right to life and freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly.
📌 Use of heavy weapons in populated areas poses a severe risk to civilians and may amount to an international crime.
📌 Failure to investigate and ensure accountability entrenches a climate of impunity.

What is referred to as the “de facto authority” in Syria represents a direct extension of ISIS in terms of structure, ideology, leadership, and operational methods.
The violations committed against civilians—the repression of peaceful protests, the use of heavy weaponry against residential populations, and systematic sectarian targeting—are distinctly ISIS practices, previously carried out and reproduced today under a different label.

Information indicates that the “Sportage” vehicle used to run over peaceful Alawite protesters on Sunday belongs to Amir Al-Youssef, an Arabic language teacher from Idlib who has been residing in Latakia for approximately ten years after being displaced due to the crisis. He falsely claimed to be from Aleppo before its fall in order to gain the sympathy of Alawite residents along the coast. As a result, he was allowed to teach in their homes and provide private lessons to their children in good faith.

However, instead of showing gratitude, he deliberately carried out the vehicular attack on peaceful protesters, demonstrating extreme hatred and malicious ingratitude.

📝 Incident Details:
• The vehicle involved in the attack was later transported to Idlib Governorate and received as a symbolic representation of the incident.
• The driver, Amir Al-Youssef, received public praise, gifts, and rewards from certain sheikhs and tribal figures, in a discourse that actively supported violence and encouraged attacks on peaceful Alawite civilians.
• Subsequently, Amir Al-Youssef released a video showing himself traveling to Damascus, which sparked widespread outrage and condemnation for glorifying violence against peaceful protests.
• Supporters of the terrorist de facto authority continue to circulate images of the vehicle, mock the victims in a sectarian manner, and promote the attack as a “heroic act.”

⚠️ Significance:
These events highlight the dangers of sectarian empowerment that allows individuals to commit acts of terrorism, accompanied by official or semi-official incitement and rewards, constituting a blatant violation of human rights and the right to peaceful assembly.

الغالبية العظمى من التعليقات تتشكرهم وتحييهم على التضليل المتقصد لأجل حماية الإرهابي الذي قام بالشروع بالقتل عن طريق دهس متظاهريين سلميين.

المقطع مازال موجوداً، ولم يحذف، رغم التعليقات الفاضحة للتزوير الإعلامي

A Syrian state-run media outlet engaged in incitement and distortion of facts when the

Al-Thawra

newspaper published misleading content on December 29, depicting a vehicle previously used to run over peaceful demonstrators as having been “attacked as public property.”

The vast majority of comments praised and supported this deliberate misinformation, aimed at protecting the perpetrator who attempted to kill peaceful protesters by vehicular assault.

The video remains online despite widespread exposure of the fabrication and public criticism of the media falsification.

This publication comes despite extensive documentation showing that the same vehicle was used in a deliberate terrorist attack on December 28, accompanied by public praise from supporters of the de facto authority for the criminal act—indicating an intentional manipulation of facts and justification of sectarian violence.

This behavior highlights the role of state media in covering up crimes and participating in sectarian incitement, within a broader pattern of systematic media bias since a pro-transitional authority administration took control of the Ministry of Information.

📝 Documented Incident Details:
• According to local sources, a Kia Sportage driven by a supporter of the transitional authority deliberately drove into a gathering of peaceful protesters at Al-Azhari Roundabout.
• The attack resulted in multiple injuries among protesters, with Haidar Sajee‘ Rabee‘ suffering the most severe wounds.
• Despite launching a blood donation campaign on Tuesday evening in an attempt to save his life, curfew measures prevented enough donors from reaching the hospital, leading to his death from his injuries.

🎥 Video Evidence:
• Verified footage clearly shows the moment peaceful protesters were run over, in the presence of security personnel stationed at the site.
• The recording also captures cheering and encouragement from individuals affiliated with the pro–transitional government current, portraying the act as a “heroic deed” rather than condemning it or seeking accountability for those responsible.

⚠️ Serious Accompanying Information:
• The victim’s family reported that General Security personnel forced them to sign a statement claiming the death resulted from a traffic accident, not a deliberate vehicular attack linked to the protests, as a condition for releasing the body, according to the family’s testimony.

As a result, the number of Alawite civilian fatalities in Latakia has risen to four, in addition to one martyr in the Al-Ghab Plain in rural Hama, and the killing of Youssef Hassan Daoud in a sectarian attack on 29 December.