Syria's Military Criminal Court in Aleppo handed death sentences to Al-Waddah Ismail and Maher Ali, state media reported. The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said the pair were convicted of seeking to incite civil war and sectarian fighting and of leading armed gangs with intent to attack public forces. A third defendant, Maher Othman, was sentenced to 12 years in prison without the court immediately specifying the charges.
In separate rulings, the court sentenced Mohammed Bakour, a member of the Defence Ministry's 82nd Division, to 20 years in prison after convicting him of intentional homicide, and handed Ammar Abdul Aal a three-year sentence for torture. Two other defendants, Abdul Raouf Bakrjan and Mohammed Zarzouri, were acquitted.
The verdicts stem from a government committee investigation into violence in March 2025 in Syria's coastal region, an area predominantly inhabited by the Alawite minority from which Assad hails. At least 1,426 people, mostly civilians, were killed in several days of sectarian violence. The committee said it had identified 298 suspects implicated in serious violations, including murder, looting, destruction of homes and torture. It also reported that 238 members of the army and security forces were killed by pro-Assad fighters in the provinces of Tartous, Latakia and Hama.
The court previously issued verdicts on September 17 involving four other defendants, sentencing one to death, one to life imprisonment, one to 20 years, and acquitting a fourth.
Al Jazeera's Heidi Pett, reporting from Damascus, said the trials cover seven men who took part in the initial pro-Assad uprising and seven members of the new government's security forces accused of carrying out revenge attacks. This is the first time government-linked personnel have been put on trial for acts of violence. About 200,000 pro-government military reinforcements converged on the area after the uprising and are alleged to have killed civilians in revenge attacks.