Suqaylabiyah, a predominantly Christian town in Syria’s Hama province, was shaken by sectarian violence after what the Associated Press described as a dispute between two men turned into attacks on Christian property. The assault started in the Christian area and continued until the early hours of Saturday, when damage to homes, shops and cars had already been inflicted, the report said. The fighting also prompted fears among residents in a community whose members have already faced sustained pressure since the conflict began and since Assad’s longtime rule ended.
The Associated Press reported that the attackers were drawn from the nearby Sunni town of Qalaat al-Madiq. According to the account, scores of men on motorcycles stormed Suqaylabiyah and targeted the property of Christians, carrying out violence across multiple types of sites in the neighborhood. The report said there was no immediate word on casualties as residents assessed the destruction after the assault.
Liyan Dweir, whose clothes shop was riddled with bullets and suffered heavy damage, described the hourslong attack as a period of fear and panic for those inside the town. “We passed through a state of terror, fear, and panic,” Dweir said, describing how his children were terrified during the attack, according to the Associated Press. Dweir also said the clashes began with an argument involving residents of Suqaylabiyah and Qalaat al-Madiq, after which “scores of men from the Sunni town stormed the area and attacking shops, homes and cars,” the report said. He added, “It is unfair that because of an argument two towns clashed.”
Another resident, Nafeh al-Nader, said attackers broke into his home and assaulted his belongings during the violence. He said young men broke the gate of his house and kicked a diesel heater, setting a room on fire, and that attackers attempted to set another room alight but did not succeed after a neighbor rushed for help. Al-Nader told the Associated Press that the neighbor was hit with a stick by one of the attackers.
After the initial violence, the Associated Press reported that Syrian government forces brought in reinforcements to Suqaylabiyah. The reinforcement helped calm the situation, according to the report, and hundreds of residents later marched through the town’s streets demanding accountability. The residents also declared a strike until the perpetrators are punished, the AP said.
The attack came amid mounting worries among Syria’s religious minorities about their safety in the country’s post-Assad period. The Associated Press reported that since Assad’s fall in December 2024, members of Syria’s Alawite, Druze and Christian minorities have faced attacks by gunmen loyal to the country’s new Islamist rulers. The report said hundreds of people have been killed in such incidents, including Alawites in Syria’s coastal region in March last year and Druze in the southern province of Sweida in July.
While interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s government has condemned attacks on minorities, many residents accuse it of either looking the other way or failing to control armed groups it is trying to absorb, according to the Associated Press. The violence in Suqaylabiyah also echoed the complex front lines of the earlier civil war, during which Suqaylabiyah was held by forces loyal to Assad while Qalaat al-Madiq was held by insurgent groups that eventually helped overthrow the Assad family’s 54-year rule.
The Associated Press added that anger has risen in Syria after the government banned the consumption of alcohol in Damascus, affecting Christian neighborhoods known for restaurants and pubs. Christians were about 10% of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million, the report said, noting that under Assad many Christians had freedom of worship and some held high government posts. The Associated Press said that while some Christians initially gave the new authorities a chance, the situation deteriorated after a suicide bombing inside a church outside Damascus in June that killed 25 people and wounded dozens.