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In Syria, several artists' concerts accused of supporting the former regime of Bashar al-Assad were cancelled this summer. In Homs, people ripped off posters announcing the concerts of singers Mohamad Iskandar and Hossam Jneed, denouncing their past ties with the regime. One of the artists subsequently offered a public apology.
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, more than 200 people have reportedly been arrested by the Israeli army in southern Syria during operations beyond the buffer zone between the two countries. Israel suspects them of "terrorism", witnesses report arbitrary arrests. The arrested persons are then detained under conditions also denounced by those who have been released and their relatives.
Since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, southern Syria has become the scene of many Israeli military operations. In a number of villages close to the area of separation between Syria and the Golan Heights, residents told France 24 that they had faced incursions, searches and arrests by Israeli soldiers.
After living more than a decade in a refugee camp, Mustafa Khaled Alwan, a sympathizer of the Syrian branch of the Muslim brothers, was finally able to cut down the false wall he had erected at home in Homs, to hide his Islamist books from Bashar Al-Assad's forces.
