Islamist Militant Group Claims Deadly Mosque Bombing in Alawite Area of Syria's Homs
Saraya Ansar al-Sunna says it detonated explosives inside Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque, killing at least eight.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — An Islamist militant group has claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing that struck a mosque in an Alawite-majority neighborhood of the Syrian city of Homs on Friday, killing at least eight people, marking a significant escalation in sectarian violence in post-Assad Syria.
In a statement posted on Telegram, the group Saraya Ansar al-Sunna said its fighters “detonated a number of explosive devices” inside the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque, located in the Wadi al-Dhahab district, a predominantly Alawite area of the city.
The explosion triggered scenes of panic and chaos, according to Syrian and monitoring sources. Syria’s state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) initially reported at least three fatalities and five injuries, while later accounts cited by other sources raised the death toll to at least eight.
Emergency responders rushed to the scene as security forces attempted to control crowds surrounding the damaged mosque.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said public security personnel fired shots into the air to disperse bystanders and facilitate the movement of ambulances. With emergency services stretched, residents reportedly called on private car owners to help transport the wounded to nearby hospitals.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) confirmed that the mosque is located in an Alawite-majority part of Homs, a city that has long been a focal point of Syria’s conflict and sectarian fault lines.
Saraya Ansar al-Sunna emerged after the ouster of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who belonged to the Alawite minority that dominated Syria’s political and security establishment for decades.
The group has previously claimed responsibility for a bombing at a church in Damascus in June, raising concerns about a broader campaign targeting religious sites and minority communities.
Homs, once a stronghold of the uprising against Assad, remains deeply scarred by years of war and communal violence. Observers warn that attacks such as Friday’s bombing risk inflaming another round of sectarian tensions at a time when Syria’s security environment remains fragile and fragmented, with armed groups continuing to operate amid political uncertainty.