Syrians Protest in Damascus, Demanding Accountability for Bashar al-Assad Supporters

Dozens of Syrians staged protests in Damascus overnight into Wednesday demanding accountability for supporters of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad, with video footage showing demonstrations in the capital’s Mazzeh 86 neighborhood that was confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

“Dozens of Syrians organized nightly protests in the Mezzeh neighborhood of Damascus, demanding accountability for the loyalists of the regime of the deposed President Bashar al-Assad, as part of moves that began in several areas and prompted authorities to warn against resorting to the logic of 'revenge'”

Al-Jazeera Net

The protests were part of a broader push across Syria for transitional justice, after years of civil war that ended with the longtime ruler’s 2024 ouster, and they followed security forces restoring order after a protest erupted in front of a nearby mosque.

Al-Jazeera Net

Interior ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba said authorities were committed to bringing perpetrators of Assad-era crimes to justice through legal avenues, while warning against acts of "revenge".

Protester Abdel-Rahman al-Qadri, 38, a former opposition fighter, said, "Assad's shabiha forced us to leave in green buses" for tented displacement camps in the country's north.

As nightly protests continued in neighborhoods of Aleppo, Rural Damascus, and Deir Ezzor, the National Commission for Transitional Justice issued a statement affirming that "justice does not rest on revenge" and called not to be drawn into any retaliatory acts outside the framework of the judiciary.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Nur al-Din al-Baba framed the unrest as part of the "Rule of Law" project, while warning against being drawn into a logic of revenge and personal retaliation.

Asharq Al-Awsat English

In Damascus, Al-Jazeera Net described attacks on private property during protests in Mezzeh, including "attacks on shops and cars" and chanting of sectarian slogans against the neighborhood's residents.

The same Al-Jazeera Net account said authorities were moving to launch a transitional justice process after years of war, while also announcing the arrest of around 6,000 people, including soldiers, officers, and loyalists connected to the former regime.

In the capital’s countryside, tensions rose around Ash al-Wor neighborhood and Jabal al-Ward, with Barzeh seeing clashes between protesters and security forces, while private properties were subjected to vandalism in the Sayyida Zaynab area, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as cited by Ronahi TV.

“Several Syrian provinces are at a critical juncture and facing a new wave of on-the-ground escalation following massive popular demonstrations in several areas, demanding to accelerate the path of transitional justice and to hold accountable those they say are connected to the former regime, amid security warnings that this anger could spill over into retaliatory acts that threaten the fragile civil peace”

Ronahi TV

Ronahi TV also described Palmyra in the eastern countryside of Homs, where residents called for the removal of figures they deemed controversial and where some groups allied with the interim government burned houses and cars belonging to residents of the area.

In Deir Ezzor, the Al-Sharaa-aligned sit-in ended after five days since it began on Monday evening, after a meeting between sit-in representatives and relevant authorities and after the government pledged to meet protesters' demands in full, with some requiring more time to study.

The Ministry of Interior released statistics on detainees in its custody totaling about 3,700 servicemen who were remnants of the toppled regime and those holding military ranks, while the Interior Ministry urged Syrians not to engage in retaliatory acts or violence outside the law.