Click to see full-size image. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Over 20 people were killed or wounded in the central Syrian city of Homs on December 26 as a result of a blast inside a mosque in the Alawite-majority neighborhood of Wadi al-Dahab.
In a statement, the Syrian Ministry of Interior said that a “terrorist bombing” targeted the Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque during Friday prayers, adding that security forces were dispatched to the scene of the attack and an investigation was launched.
The state-run SANA news agency reported, citing a security official, that the blast was caused by “multiple explosive devices,” although the media director in Homs told Al-Jazeera that a single explosive device was planted inside the mosque.
The Ministry of Interior said in its statement that six people were killed and at least 21 were wounded in the blast at the mosque, typically frequented by members of the Alawite community.
Later, however, the director of the emergency department in the Health Ministry told SANA that the blast killed eight people and wounded 18 others, describing the toll as “preliminary”.
Meanwhile, Alawites activists put the death toll at 12, and noted that members from the community recently organized a sit-in in front of the mosque to protest against the Islamist-led Interim Government.
The site-in was a part of a wider wave of protests held on November 25 on the coast, the heartland of the Alawites, and in nearby areas to demand an end to sectarian-based discrimination and violence that began after the fall of the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad, an Alawite himself. The community Homs was among the most affected.
Two days before the protests, a wave of violence targeted Alawite neighborhoods in Homs, including Wadi al-Dahab, after a Sunni Muslim Bedouin couple were killed just two days earlier, with sectarian graffiti found at the site. Later, the Interior Ministry confirmed that the crime was carried out by a relative of the couple.
Sectarian violence continued after the protests. Just a day before the bombing in Wadi al-Dahab, two young Alawite men were murdered in the town of al-Qabu in the western countryside of Homs.
The deadly bombing in Homs will likely fuel sectarian tensions, especially that the government has so far shown no willingness whatsoever to engage in any meaningful way with Alawites or any other minority.
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in house fighting ,like gladiators, and mercenaries like warriors , and assasins ,like the father and son that shot to death 15 at bondi last weekend, and then the bomber who blew up the rabbi yesterday, all together creating their needed chaos .allegedly .
how many alavites and christians are there in syria. evacuate them or they will all be killed off.
send the syrian sunnis back to syria since now they rule it they should be fine.