On October 12, 2025, unidentified gunmen attempted to assassinate the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Damascus University, Ali Al-Lahham, on campus grounds.

Gunmen entered the campus carrying machine guns and hand grenades. They went directly to the dean’s office and threw a hand grenade at Al-Lahham before fleeing. The grenade did not detonate, and no one was injured. The motives behind the attack were unconfirmed, but sources indicated that it may have been related to a disagreement over academic evaluations.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about an apparently targeted attack on a scholar. State authorities should take all reasonable steps to prevent and respond to such attacks, including by holding perpetrators accountable, in accordance with international human rights standards. In addition to the harm to the immediate victim, violent, targeted attacks on scholars undermine academic freedom and democratic society generally.

Sources:
https://www.alwatanvoice.com/arabic/news/2025/10/13/1550502.html
https://hawarnews.com/en/armed-attack-targets-dean-of-faculty-of-arts-at-damascus-university
https://npasyria.com/en/131199/
https://sfuturem.org/en/2025/10/the-storming-of-the-faculty-of-arts-at-damascus-university/