Clashes erupted along Syria’s coast on Sunday between protesters from the Alawite minority and counterdemonstrators, leaving at least four people dead and dozens injured, according to health officials. The violence came just two days after a bombing at an Alawite mosque in the central city of Homs killed eight worshippers and wounded 18 others during prayers. The unrest drew thousands of demonstrators to the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous, as well as to other areas.
Authorities said preliminary investigations indicated that explosive devices had been planted inside the Homs mosque, though no suspect has been officially identified so far. Funerals for the victims were held on Saturday. A little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack in a message posted on Telegram, saying it had targeted members of the Alawite sect, whom extremist groups consider heretical.
Sunday’s protests were called by Ghazal Ghazal, an Alawite cleric living abroad who heads the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora. In Latakia, clashes broke out when pro-government counterprotesters hurled stones at demonstrators. Violence escalated as a group of protesters beat a counterdemonstrator who crossed into their ranks. Security forces intervened, firing into the air to disperse the crowd.
State media reported that two security personnel were injured in Tartous after a hand grenade was thrown at a police station, while vehicles belonging to security forces were set ablaze in Latakia. Later, the state news agency SANA confirmed that one security officer had been killed by gunfire. An Associated Press photographer at a hospital in Latakia saw the bodies of four victims, three with head injuries likely caused by stones and one with a gunshot wound to the chest.
According to SANA, at least 60 people were injured in the unrest, suffering stab wounds, blunt-force injuries from stones, and gunshot wounds. The violence marks the latest episode in a series of sectarian tensions that have gripped Syria since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, when a rebel offensive ended nearly 14 years of civil war and forced Assad, an Alawite, to flee to Russia.
In March, an ambush by Assad loyalists on security forces sparked days of retaliatory violence that left hundreds dead, most of them Alawites. Although large-scale fighting subsided afterward, members of the community have continued to report targeted attacks, arrests without charge, and discrimination in public-sector employment. Under the Assad regime, Alawites were heavily represented in state institutions and security forces.
Government officials condemned Friday’s mosque bombing and pledged to bring those responsible to justice, though no arrests have yet been announced. Protesters said they were demonstrating against killings, detentions and what they described as systematic marginalisation since Assad’s fall. Counterprotesters, however, accused remnants of the former regime of trying to destabilise the country.
“We are calling for one Syria and one people,” said Mohammed Ismail, a counterprotester in Latakia. “They want to drag us back into chaos so they can benefit.”
