Qardaha

Qardaha sits high in the Lattakia mountains, and for centuries that elevation had offered its communities some insulation from the instabilities below. In March 2025, that proved wrong. Armed groups launched a sustained campaign against Qardaha and the surrounding highland villages, turning the mountains that had sheltered generations into a siege. An estimated 150 martyrs were recorded. The assault was prolonged — not a swift raid. Artillery bombardment shook the hillside settlements, roads were cut to prevent escape or the arrival of help, and armed units moved into the more isolated hamlets with the same systematic brutality documented across the coastal region. The difficult terrain that might have offered protection instead trapped people in elevated villages with no route out. The destruction extended beyond the killing. Homes built from local stone over generations were shelled or burned. Historical sites carrying the memory of the region's deep past were damaged or demolished. Qardaha's martyrs and its broken landscape together reflect what March 2025 meant for the communities of the Lattakia highlands.