Syria imposes night curfew on port city after sectarian violence

DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities imposed an overnight curfew in the port city of Latakia on Tuesday after attacks in predominantly Alawite neighborhoods a day prior.
The interior ministry announced a “curfew in Latakia city, effective from 5:00 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Tuesday, December 30, 2025, until 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Wednesday, December 31, 2025.”
Individuals attacked Alawite-majority neighborhoods on Monday, damaging cars and vandalising shops.
The attacks came a day after three people were killed during mass protests by the minority community that followed a bombing in Homs.
One of them was a member of Syria’s security forces, according to a security source.
Syrian authorities said on Monday forces “reinforced their deployment in a number of neighborhoods in the city of Latakia, as part of measures taken to monitor the situation on the ground, enhance security and stability, and ensure the safety of citizens and property.”
Latakia, a mixed city in Syria’s Alawite coastal heartland, also has several Sunni-majority neighborhoods.
Since Syria’s longtime ruler Bashar Assad, himself an Alawite, was ousted in December 2024, the minority group has been the target of attacks.
Hundreds of Alawites were killed in sectarian massacres in the community’s coastal heartland in March.
Despite assurances from Damascus that all of Syria’s communities will be protected, the country’s minorities remain wary of their future under the new authorities.