An explosion at a mosque in Homs during Friday prayers on 26 December killed at least eight people as the authorities opened an investigation and tightened security. Security was increased citywide.
The blast struck the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib mosque in Wadi al-Dhahab, a district with a large Alawite population. Syria’s state news agency, SANA, cited health ministry officials as saying eight people were killed and 18 injured, with the wounded taken to Karam al-Louz hospital.
Syrian interior ministry said internal security units were deployed quickly and imposed a cordon around the mosque while investigators began collecting evidence. SANA quoted a security source as saying initial inquiries indicated explosive devices had been planted inside the building. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
According to Reuters report local officials considered two main possibilities in early assessments: a suicide bomber or explosives placed at the site.
Photographs and video released by state media showed damage inside the prayer hall, including a hole in a wall, shattered windows and signs of fire. Blood was visible on sections of carpet and debris was scattered across the floor.
Syrian officials described the incident as an act of terrorism. In a statement carried by SANA, the interior ministry referred to a “terrorist explosion”, while the foreign ministry said it would pursue those responsible and “combat terrorism in all its forms”.
Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, sits on the route linking Damascus to the Mediterranean coast and was heavily damaged during years of civil war. The city is majority Sunni, but contains several neighbourhoods with significant Alawite communities.
Former president Bashar al-Assad, who was removed in December 2024 after a rebel offensive, is from the Alawite minority. The post-Assad administration is headed by interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham during the insurgent campaign that forced Assad from power.
The explosion comes against a background of affecting communities associated with the former government. In March 2025, fighting and retaliatory attacks in coastal and western provinces left large numbers dead after ambushes attributed to Assad loyalists and subsequent operations by security forces and allied fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Reuters.
A national commission of inquiry set up by Sharaa reported in July that it had documented 1,426 deaths during the March violence, most of them Alawite civilians, across more than 30 locations in Latakia, Tartus and Hama.
Militant attacks have also been reported elsewhere since Assad’s fall. In June 2025 a suicide bomber attacked the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila district of Damascus, killing at least 20 people; the interior ministry said the attacker was a member of Islamic State.
In Homs on Friday, residents interviewed by news agencies said the explosion triggered panic in Wadi al-Dhahab, with many people staying indoors as security forces sealed off streets around the mosque. The authorities did not release information on suspects, but SANA said investigators were working to identify those behind what it described as a criminal act.
Associated Press also reported clashes this week in parts of Aleppo between government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, with a ceasefire later announced. Syrian state media said on 24 December that three “remnants of the former regime” were killed in clashes with internal security forces outside the coastal city of Jableh.
