ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraqi security forces have arrested three Syrian refugees in recent days on charges of supporting Syrian “extremist organizations,” coinciding with armed clashes in Syria’s coastal areas since Thursday.

The Baghdad/Rusafa police command announced Tuesday the arrest of a Syrian citizen in the capital for posting content allegedly in support of “extremist groups in Syria.”

The suspect was “promoting terrorist organizations on Facebook and posting content inciting sectarianism and terrorism,” according to a statement from the police forces.

“He was arrested and confessed openly to posting the content,” the statement said. “He has been placed in police custody pending legal proceedings.”

Loyalists to deposed president Bashar al-Assad on Thursday killed a number of members of the Syrian security forces in an ambush, an incident which prompted a violent response from Damascus, with members of the Syrian defense ministry carrying out “public executions,” killing over 1090 civilians along Syria’s western coast, predominantly Alawites, suspected of siding with the insurgents, according to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). 

The suspects were reportedly arrested for posting content in support of the new authorities’ military operations.

A security source told The New Region that this was the third arrest of a Syrian citizen by Iraqi security forces in recent days.

On Sunday, security forces announced the arrest of a Syrian refugee and his wife in Babil province for publishing content promoting “terrorist organizations.”

As tensions were escalating in Syria’s coastal region, Major General Saad Maan, head of Iraq’s Security Media Cell, issued a statement warning Syrian refugees against “breaking the law or disturbing social peace.”

“Syrians entered Iraq as displaced persons and were provided with humanitarian and fraternal assistance. They are respected and appreciated as long as they do not violate the law, breach security, or disturb social peace,” Maan said. “This applies to everyone equally, and there is no difference in the application of the law on anyone, regardless of whether they are Syrian, of another nationality, or Iraqi.”

Maan emphasized that “Iraq’s security and military forces in 2025 are fully integrated in terms of logistics, technology, intelligence, information gathering, and weaponry. Iraq’s borders are well-secured and in the hands of courageous and heroic forces.”