This handout photograph, released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on December 26, 2025, shows the aftermath of the explosion inside Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dahab neighborhood of Homs. A deadly explosion hit a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of Syria's Homs on December 26, said authorities who reported at least six people killed. "A terrorist explosion targeted the Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque during Friday prayers in Al-Khadri Street in the Wadi al-Dahab neighbourhood of Homs," the interior ministry said in a statement, adding that six people were killed and 21 others wounded. - AFP
BEIRUT (AP): A bombing at a mosque located in the Syrian city of Homs during Friday prayers killed at least six people and wounded 21 others, authorities said.
Images released by Syria’s state-run Arab News Agency showed blood on the mosque’s carpets, holes in the walls, shattered windows, and fire damage. The Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque is located in a predominantly Alawite area of the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood in Homs, Syria’s third-largest city.
SANA, citing a security source, said that preliminary investigations indicate that explosive devices were planted inside the mosque. Authorities were searching for the perpetrators of the attack. A security cordon was placed around the mosque, Syria’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Tensions have flared across several parts of Syria in recent weeks as long-running sectarian, ethnic, and political fault lines continue to destabilize the country, even as large-scale fighting has subsided.
The country has experienced several waves of sectarian clashes since the fall of President Bashar Assad last year in attacks by insurgents led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, headed by now interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.
Assad, himself an Alawite, fled the country to Russia. Members of his sect have been subjected to crackdowns.
In March, an ambush carried out by Assad’s supporters against security forces triggered days of sectarian attacks that left hundreds of people dead, most of them Alawites.
On Monday, clashes have erupted intermittently between Syrian government forces and Kurdish-led fighters, the Syrian Democratic Forces, in mixed neighborhoods in the northern city of Aleppo, forcing temporary closures of schools and public institutions and prompting civilians to shelter indoors.
A late-evening ceasefire was then announced by both sides amid ongoing de-escalation efforts.
