Gunfire, Stone-Pelting Leaves At Least 4 Dead In Syria As Alawites Protest After Homs Mosque Bombing Video Shows Chaos

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Chaos broke out in western Syria on Sunday as protesters from the Alawite minority community and counterdemonstrators clashed, leaving at least four dead and injuring dozens of others.

Sunday's protests came a couple of days after a bombing at an Alawite mosque in the Syrian city of Homs killed eight people and injured 18 others, with thousands of Alawites gathering in the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous.

Although authorities have not yet publicly identified a suspect in the mosque bombing, a little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack on their Telegram channel-the group indicated that the bombing intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

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As per the Associated Press, Sunday's protests were called for by Alawite sheikh Ghazal Ghazal, who lives outside the country and heads a group called the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora.

Gunfire was reported from Latakia, according to several news agencies, with AP reporting stone-pelting from counterdemonstrators and violence from the Alawite protesters.

Hours after protesters gathered at the Azhari Square in Latakia and demanded the release of thousands of Alawite prisoners, gunshots rang out before security forces fired in the air.

Videos from Syria by Reuters showed chaotic scenes as demonstrators carried wounded people away on foot.

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Syria's state-run television, meanwhile, said that two members of the security forces were injured in Tartous after a grenade was lobbed into a police station. Several vehicles belonging to security forces, meanwhile, were torched in Latakia.

AP, which had a reporter in Latakia, reported that at least four people had been killed in the clashes, with three deaths appearing to have been caused by stone-pelting, and one from a gunshot wound. However, it was not clear whether civilians, security forces or both were included in this count.

Meanwhile, the state-run SANA news agency said that 60 people were wounded by stabbings, stone-pelting, and gunfire targeting both security personnel and civilians.

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Since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024 and his escape to Russia, Syria has seen a wave of sectarian violence.

In March this year, an ambush on security forces by Assad loyalists triggered days of violence that left hundreds, mostly Alawites, dead.

While the situation had improved after that, Alawites continued to be sporadically targeted, and Friday's mosque bombing in Homs seems to suggest that the violence is far from over.

During the the reign of Assad, who is an Alawite, members of the community were overrepresented in government jobs, and in the army and security forces, as per AP.

However, since Assad's fall, Alawites have complained of discrimination in government jobs, and have reportedly seen several young men from the community detained without charges.

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