The killer came by night – a masked man on a motorbike who struck without warning and then sped away. It's become a familiar pattern in some corners of the new Syria in recent months, as the country's fragile unity is eroded by revenge attacks and sectarian killings.
The main targets are Alawites, the sect of the ousted Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad. But this time, on 1 October, the victims were Christians – Wissam and Shafiq Mansour, cousins who were both 39, and were as close as brothers. As they chatted with a friend over coffee and cigarettes, they were hit by a hail of bullets.
The killings happened in the village of Anaz in Wadi al-Nasara, or the Valley of the Christians – an area of rolling hills in rural Homs province in western Syria. Locals say the gunman came from the direction of a nearby Sunni Muslim village.
Sitting a short distance from Wissam's coffin, his father George, railed against the authorities, saying Christians in the valley had been left defenceless.
"Guns were taken from us but left in the hands of a rival (Sunni) village," he said. "We want to carry arms against them. They don't know anything about religion or love or peace. Today it's Wissam, tomorrow it could be anyone."
