Clashes broke out on Syria's coast between protesters from the Alawite religious minority and counter demonstrators on Sunday (December 28, 2025), two days after a bombing at an Alawite mosque in the city of Homs killed eight people and wounded 18 others during prayers.
Minority sect of ousted President lives in fear as violence grips Syria’s coast
Thousands of protesters gathered in the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous, and elsewhere. Officials have said that preliminary investigations indicate that explosive devices were planted inside the mosque in Homs, but authorities haven't publicly identified a suspect yet in Friday's (December 26) bombing. Funerals for the dead were held on Saturday (December 27).
A little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its Telegram channel, in which it indicated that the attack was intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates.
Sunday's demonstrations were called for by Ghazal Ghazal, an Alawite sheikh living outside of Syria who heads a group called the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora.
