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                                        Syria's judiciary on Thursday issued its first verdicts over the massacres of Alawites on the Syrian coast last year, sentencing a former member of government forces to 20 years in prison. A supporter of deposed president Bashar al-Assad received a death sentence and another was sentenced to life in jail.                 
                    
    
    
        
                            
                                Issued on: 17/09/2026 - 11:13
                        
    
  
    
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                People in Syria's northeastern city of Qamishli protest against sectarian violence targeting the Alawite minority, in March 2025.        © Delil Souleiman, AFP                                        

                    
    
                                                                                            
                                                    A court in Syria on Thursday sentenced a former member of government forces to 20 years in prison, while two supporters of the deposed government received a death sentence and life in prison, in the first verdicts over the killing of Alawites on the Syrian coast last year. Fourteen people were accused of involvement in massacres, in a trial that opened last November. They were seven government forces members and seven supporters of former President Bashar al-Assad. Read moreExclusive: Syria's Latakia province reels after massacre of Alawites (FRANCE 24 with AFP)
                                                            
        
        
            
                                                                
                                    





                                                        
            
                            
                                                





                                            
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