Family feuds and financial disputes have escalated into gunfights in several parts of Syria in recent weeks, highlighting widespread gun ownership and persistent insecurity. Minor disagreements have flared into confrontations involving firearms and hand grenades, particularly in the Aleppo and Rif Dimashq governorates, resulting in casualties and material damage, and necessitating extensive intervention by state security forces to restore calm.
Aleppo governorate saw three family feuds descend into gunfights in as many days. On July 17, a fight over a shop, between two families in the Al-Muyassar neighborhood, left three people wounded and several vehicles burned before Internal Security Forces (ISF) intervened, established a security cordon, and arrested several individuals who were involved.
The next day, a firefight broke out between two families in the city of Azaz, north of Aleppo, escalating to the point where an ISF patrol came under fire while attempting to resolve the dispute, prompting the deployment of security reinforcements across the city.
On July 19, another clash erupted between two families in the Beni Zayd neighborhood of Aleppo, driven by a prior vendetta. This resulted in one fatality and multiple injuries before the ISF intervened, imposed a security cordon, and detained several of those involved.
June 25 also saw clashes in the town of Al-Ghazlaniya, in Rif Dimashq. What began as a dispute over money escalated into confrontations involving firearms and hand grenades, resulting in injuries and property damage. The ISF responded by imposing a curfew to contain the tensions and keep residents safe.
The recurrence of such incidents in various parts of the country has fueled growing public demand for measures to rein in unregulated weapon ownership among civilians, a phenomenon that undermines the state’s authority, erodes trust between the community and state institutions, drives up crime rates, and transforms minor personal or familial disputes into armed confrontations that threaten public security.
These incidents have various causes, ranging from financial and commercial disagreements to family feuds and acts of vengeance. Also are play are the social factors related to integration between local residents and newcomers forced to flee areas devastated by military operations since 2011—a dynamic that has, in some instances, lent a regional or tribal dimension to the problem.
The issue worsened when Assad regime security and military headquarters were looted on December 8, 2024—the day it fell—and the weapons and ammunition stockpiled there fell into civilian hands or easily accessible black markets. The proliferation of weapons during the war years, combined with weak security enforcement in certain areas, fostered a sense of the need to possess arms for self-protection, lending the issue a social aspect rooted in a pervasive sense of insecurity.
Addressing the problem will require a comprehensive strategy based on cooperation between state institutions, civil society actors, community groups, and religious institutions, through the following measures:
• Consolidating the state’s monopoly on force and possession of arms, through the Interior and Defense ministries; expanding efforts to collect weapons held beyond the reach of official institutions; and establishing clear mechanisms for their surrender and for regularizing the status of those holding them.
• Passing strict laws that criminalize the carrying and use of weapons outside legal frameworks, as well as for threatening to use them, and imposing harsher penalties when their use results in injury, homicide, or damage to public and private property.
• Strengthening the role of the Supreme Fatwa Council in addressing this issue by issuing a religious ruling prohibiting the use of weapons in personal or family disputes—modeled on the June 6, 2025 fatwa banning blood feuds and acts of vengeance.
• Designating a nationwide Friday sermon to the phenomenon of uncontrolled weapon use from a religious and social perspective—similar to a June 26 sermon dedicated to raising awareness about the dangers of drugs to individuals and society. This initiative by the Ministry of Endowments (Awqaf) could be extended to other religious and sectarian authorities in Syria through their respective institutional channels.
• Boosting the role of government media in addressing the proliferation of weapons and other social issues facing Syrian society through awareness campaigns, advertisements, programs, and discussion forums. These initiatives would help calm the social situation and clarify the legal and security risks associated with carrying and using weapons.
• Strengthening the role of civil society organizations and community-based groups in rebuilding social capital and restoring trust among the various components of Syrian society. This includes activating reconciliation councils to resolve disputes, particularly in areas characterized by tribal structures or sectarian and ethnic diversity, to prevent individual or familial disagreements from escalating into clashes with regional, tribal, sectarian, or ethnic dimensions.
• Enhancing the capacity of internal security forces to intervene early and rapidly to contain conflicts before they escalate, and increasing their presence in areas prone to recurring clashes. This must be accompanied by the prosecution of those implicated in the use of weapons, to avoid informal community-based truces replacing legal accountability.
Ultimately, concerted efforts by state institutions, civil society organizations, community groups, and religious institutions are all critical to addressing the proliferation of weapons and preventing social, financial, and familial disputes from descending into armed confrontations.
The success of these efforts will depend on the state’s ability to balance the need to impose a monopoly on the use of force and enforce the rule of law against the need to address underlying social causes of violence and the sense of insecurity, as well as rebuilding trust among the population. Such measures are vital to help stabilize the social environment and enhance security and stability in Syria.