Syria’s interim government consolidated control over parts of the country including in the cities of Damascus, Aleppo, and Hama793 and expanded its presence in areas of central, northern794 and southern Syria.795 However, insecurity persisted in many areas of the country.796 In early March, pro-Assad loyalists launched an insurgency against the interim government’s security forces primarily in the coastal areas of Tartous and Latakia.797 The escalation triggered intense hostilities and sectarian violence, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians798 and the displacement of tens of thousands.799 Since peaking in March, insurgent attacks by pro-Assad loyalists have significantly declined.800 In Sweida and Dar’a governorates, resistance of local armed groups to government control and integration into state forces,801 resulted at times in clashes and casualties. In late April and early May, fighting between local Druze armed groups and pro-government forces in Rural Damascus802 and Sweida resulted in more than 100 fatalities803 including dozens of civilians.804
The interim government’s forces have reportedly been overstretched,805 operating with limited effectiveness and facing challenges from armed groups that, while nominally integrated in their structure, have been operating semi-independently.806 At times, armed groups affiliated with the interim government reportedly operated outside its control807 and committed violations against civilians, notably during the violence in the coastal areas in early March808 and in Druze-majority areas in late April.809 The interim government’s forces have faced challenges in responding to sectarian violence,810 kidnappings811 and looting.812 Revenge killings targeting individuals linked to the former Assad regime’s security apparatus and the Alawite community by unidentified actors continued to be reported across multiple governorates.813 Sectarian-motivated assassinations of Alawites have been particularly notable in Homs governorate.814 An increase in criminal activity and lawlessness, including of kidnappings815 and murders816 has been reported across the areas controlled by the interim government.817 This situation has been partly attributed to post-Assad security vacuum,818 deep societal divides and economic hardship caused by the civil war,819 the interim government’s shortcomings in bringing competing armed groups under its control,820 and the lack of effective transitional justice mechanisms.821
Meanwhile, Israel ‘has emerged as the most destabilising external force in post-Assad Syria’ according to International Crisis Group.822 It continued to occupy the demilitarised zone in the Golan Heights and a ‘buffer zone’ in southern Syria.823 Israel continued to carry out incursions and attacks in south-west Syria824 and airstrikes on multiple targets, including in the vicinity of the Presidential palace in Damascus.825 It has reiterated its position against the deployment of Syrian forces south of Damascus and has actively sought the support of the Druze minority in the area, offering them protection.826
In northeast Syria, the integration agreement between the interim government and SDF in early March led to a significant decline in armed confrontations between the SDF and the SNA factions nominally affiliated with the government.827 However, tensions between SDF and the interim government remain828 and the integration of military and civilian institutions of the DAANES into the state remained largely unresolved as of late May.829
Sporadic ISIL attacks targeting interim government’s forces,830 the SDF831 and civilians832 particularly in Deir Ez Zor governorate, were reported during the reference period. An increase in ISIL activity and anti-ISIL operations by the interim government’s forces was reported in May.833
- 793
International Crisis Group, Finding a Path through a Perilous Moment for Post-Assad Syria, 10 March 2025, url
- 794
USDOD, Lead IG Report to the U.S. Congress January 1, 2025 – March 31, 2025, 29 April 2025, url, p. 21
- 795
Etana Syria, Brief: The Dissolution of Ahmad al-Awdeh’s Groups in Daraa, 16 April 2025, url; ISW and CT, Iran Update, 12 May 2025, url
- 796
International Crisis Group, Crisis Watch March – April 2025, n.d., url; Etana Syria, Syria Update #25, 26 May 2025, url; International Crisis Group, A Helping Hand for Post-Assad Syria, 22 May 2025, url
- 797
USDOD, Lead IG Report to the U.S. Congress January 1, 2025 – March 31, 2025, 29 April 2025, url, p. 21
- 798
Security Council Report, Syria: April 2025 Monthly Forecast, 31 March 2025, url; SNHR, Preliminary Report on the Violations that Took Place in the Wake of the Attacks Carried Out by Non-State Armed Groups Linked to the Assad Regime, Mostly in the Governorates of Latakia, Tartus, and Hama, 11 March 2025, url, pp. 5-10
- 799
UNHCR, Regional Flash Update #27 - Syria Situation Crisis, 16 May 2025, url, p. 4
- 800
ISW and CT, Iran Update, 27 May 2025, url
- 801
Etana Syria, Syria Update #25, 26 May 2025, url; USDOD, Lead IG Report to the U.S. Congress January 1, 2025 – March 31, 2025, 29 April 2025, url, p. 21
- 802
Syria Report (The), Attacks on Druze Residents in Damascus Suburbs and Suweida Include HLP Violations, 20 May 2025, url; Etana Syria, Syria Update #24, 8 May 2025, url
- 803
International Crisis Group, A Helping Hand for Post-Assad Syria, 22 May 2025, url; Etana Syria, Syria Update #24, 8 May 2025, url
- 804
Security Council Report, Syria: June 2025 Monthly Forecast, 1 June 2025, url
- 805
International Crisis Group, A Helping Hand for Post-Assad Syria, 22 May 2025, url
- 806
International Crisis Group, Finding a Path through a Perilous Moment for Post-Assad Syria, 10 March 2025, url; Waters, G., The New Syrian Army: Structure and Commanders, Syria Revisited, 28 March 2025, url; ISW and CT, Iran Update, 19 May 2025, url
- 807
USDOD, Lead IG Report to the U.S. Congress January 1, 2025 – March 31, 2025, 29 April 2025, url, pp. 22-23
- 808
SJAC, SJAC’s Analysis of Atrocities Committed in Latakia and Tartous, 13 March 2025, url; Zelin, A., Syria’s Transitional Honeymoon Is Over After Massacres and Disinformation, TWI, 10 March 2025, url; AI, Syria: Coastal massacres of Alawite civilians must be investigated as war crimes, 3 April 2025, url
- 809
International Crisis Group, Fighting in Damascus Exposes Syria’s Sectarian Tensions, 2 May 2025, url; Etana Syria, Syria Update #24, 8 May 2025, url
- 810
SJAC, The Syrian Government Must Investigate the Targeting of Alawite Civilians in Homs, 13 May 2025, url
- 811
New York Times (The), As People Are Abducted on Unpatrolled Streets, Syrians Demand Better Protection, 10 March 2025, url; Davis, H., Sectarian Violence Simmers in Homs, New Lines Magazine, 10 March 2025, url
- 812
International Crisis Group, A Helping Hand for Post-Assad Syria, 22 May 2025, url
- 813
SJAC, Revenge Killings Targeting Assad Regime Affiliates (December 2024 - May 2025), 22 May 2025, url
- 814
SJAC, The Syrian Government Must Investigate the Targeting of Alawite Civilians in Homs, 13 May 2025, url; Davis, H., Sectarian Violence Simmers in Homs, New Lines Magazine, 10 March 2025, url
- 815
Davis, H., Sectarian Violence Simmers in Homs, New Lines Magazine, 10 March 2025, url; SOHR, Absence of law deterrence | 50 Alawite women missing since beginning of 2025, 18 April 2025, url
- 816
SOHR, Murder crimes | 48 civilians killed in areas controlled by Damascus government since early March, 1 April 2025, url
- 817
Haid, H., Where Does Syria’s Transition Stand?, Arab Reform Initiative, 24 April 2025, url; Global Protection Cluster, Syria Protection Sector - Snapshot Protection Landscape in Syria, 3 April 2025, url, p. 2; NPA, Unrest continues in Syria’s Damascus: A Mayor and His Son Killed Inside Home Amid Fragile Calm, 1 May 2025, url
- 818
New York Times (The), As People Are Abducted on Unpatrolled Streets, Syrians Demand Better Protection, 10 March 2025, url; Global Protection Cluster, Syria Protection Sector - Snapshot Protection Landscape in Syria, 3 April 2025, url, p. 2
- 819
International Crisis Group, A Helping Hand for Post-Assad Syria, 22 May 2025, url
- 820
Haid, H., Where Does Syria’s Transition Stand?, Arab Reform Initiative, 24 April 2025, url
- 821
Global Protection Cluster, Syria Protection Sector - Snapshot Protection Landscape in Syria, 3 April 2025, url, p. 2
- 822
International Crisis Group, A Helping Hand for Post-Assad Syria, 22 May 2025, url
- 823
International Crisis Group, A Helping Hand for Post-Assad Syria, 22 May 2025, url; Security Council Report, Syria: Briefing and Consultations, 20 May 2025, url
- 824
Etana Syria, Syria Update #25, 26 May 2025, url
- 825
Etana Syria, Syria Update #24, 8 May 2025, url; International Crisis Group, A Helping Hand for Post-Assad Syria, 22 May 2025, url
- 826
France24, Israel launches new Syria strikes amid Druze tensions, 3 May 2025, url; International Crisis Group, A Helping Hand for Post-Assad Syria, 22 May 2025, url
- 827
ACLED, ACLED Regional Overview Middle East: May 2025, 8 May 2025, url
- 828
Etana Syria, Brief: SDF Agreement Stalls as ISIS Regroups, 30 April 2025, url; Etana Syria, Syria Update #25, 26 May 2025, url
- 829
ISW and CT, Iran Update, 20 May 2025, url; International Crisis Group, A Helping Hand for Post-Assad Syria, 22 May 2025, url
- 830
ISW and CT, Iran Update, 19 May 2025, url
- 831
Al Jazeera, ISIL group kills five Kurdish fighters in attack in eastern Syria, 28 April 2025, url; Etana Syria, Brief: SDF Agreement Stalls as ISIS Regroups, 30 April 2025, url
- 832
SOHR, Second attack in a few hours | ISIS cells attack civilian house in rural Deir Ezzor, 7 May 2025, url
- 833
ISW and CT, Iran Update, 27 May 2025, url