Mosque blast in Homs kills at least eight worshippers, raising fears for Syria’s Alawite minority amid ongoing sectarian violence
DAMASCUS: An explosion hit worshippers at a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of Syria’s Homs on Friday, state media said, killing at least eight in the latest attack on the minority community.
The blast is the second in a place of worship since Islamist authorities took charge of the country a year ago, after a suicide bombing in a Damascus church killed 25 people in June.
State news agency SANA reported “an explosion inside the Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dahab neighbourhood” in Homs city.
Quoting a health ministry official, SANA gave a preliminary toll of at least eight dead and 18 wounded.
Syria’s interior ministry said in a statement that “a terrorist explosion” targeted the mosque “during Friday prayers”.
Homs was the scene of heavy sectarian violence during Syria’s civil war.
The ministry imposed a security cordon around the mosque, saying that authorities “have begun investigating and collecting evidence to pursue the perpetrators of this criminal act”.
SANA quoted a security source as saying “initial investigations indicate that the explosion… was caused by explosive devices planted inside the mosque”.
A resident of the area, requesting anonymity out of fear for his safety, told AFP people “heard a loud explosion, followed by chaos and panic in the neighbourhood”.
“No one dares to leave their house, and we are hearing ambulance sirens,” he added.
SANA published photos from inside the mosque, one of which showed a hole in a wall.
Black smoke covered part of the mosque, with carpets and books scattered nearby.
Minority fears
Homs city is home to a Sunni Muslim majority but also has several predominantly Alawite areas.
While most Syrians are Sunni, ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad belongs to the Alawite community, whose faith stems from Shiite Islam.
Since Assad’s fall in 2024, the Observatory and residents in Homs province have reported kidnappings and killings targeting members of the minority community.
Late last month, thousands of people demonstrated on the Alawite coast in protest at fresh attacks targeting the minority community in Homs and other regions.
Syria’s coastal areas saw the massacre of Alawite civilians in March, with authorities accusing armed Assad supporters of sparking the violence by attacking security forces.
A national commission of inquiry said at least 1,426 members of the minority community were killed at the time, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor put the toll at more than 1,700.
The Observatory, witnesses and rights groups reported that security forces and allied groups committed massacres and “field executions” during the three-day violence.
Human rights groups and international organisations have said entire families were killed, including women, children and the elderly.
Despite many verbal assurances from Damascus to protect all Syrian components, the country’s minority communities remain largely weary of their future under the new Islamist authorities.
Sectarian clashes in southern Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida saw the killing of more than 2,000 people in July, including 789 Druze civilians who were “summarily executed by defence and interior ministry personnel”, according to the Observatory.
In June, a suicide bombing in a Damascus church killed 25 people.
Syrian authorities blamed the Islamic State (IS) group, while a little-known Sunni extremist group claimed responsibility.
In a December speech marking a year since the fall of Assad, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa emphasisedthe importance of “the unification of efforts by all citizens to build a strong Syria”.
Despite major achievements in rebuilding Syria’s stature abroad, Sharaa still faces a major challenge internally in maintaining the unity of the country and extending security nationwide.
