Syria: 8 dead, 18 injured in mosque bombing

A bomb attack on a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs during Friday prayers killed at least eight people and injured 18 others, authorities said.

Images published by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) showed blood on the mosque’s carpets, holes in the walls, broken windows and fire damage. The Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque is located in an area of ​​the Wadi al-Dhahab district dominated by the Alawite minority in Homs, Syria’s third-largest city.

SANA, citing a security source, said preliminary investigations indicate that explosive devices were placed inside the mosque. Authorities were searching for the perpetrators of the attack. A security cordon was placed around the mosque, the Syrian Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Tensions have flared in several parts of Syria in recent weeks, as long-standing sectarian, ethnic and political fault lines continue to destabilize the country, even as large-scale fighting has eased.

The country has seen several waves of sectarian clashes since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad last year. Assad, himself an Alawite, fled the country to Russia. Members of his sect were subjected to repressive measures.

In March, an ambush by Assad supporters against security forces sparked days of violence that left hundreds dead, most of them Alawites.

Local officials condemned Friday’s attack, saying it came “against the backdrop of desperate and repeated attempts to undermine security and stability and sow chaos among the Syrian people.”

“Syria reiterates its firm position in the fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” the Foreign Ministry added in a statement.

“Remnants of the old regime, IS militants and collaborators have converged on a single goal: to obstruct the path of the new state by undermining stability, threatening civil peace, and eroding the shared coexistence and common destiny of Syrians throughout history,” Syria’s information minister said in a post on social media platform X.

Neighboring countries including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon also condemned the attack. In a statement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reaffirmed “Lebanon’s support for Syria in its fight against terrorism.”

Clashes broke out intermittently between Syrian government forces and Kurdish-led fighters, the Syrian Democratic Forces, in mixed neighborhoods in the northern city of Aleppo on Monday, forcing the temporary closure of schools and public institutions and prompting civilians to seek shelter indoors. A late evening ceasefire was then announced by both sides, as part of ongoing de-escalation efforts.