LATAKIA, Syria (AP) — Clashes broke out on the coast of Syria on Sunday between demonstrators from the Alawite religious minority and counter-demonstrators, two days after a bombing in an Alawite mosque in the city of Homs killed eight people and wounded 18 others during prayers.
Thousands of protesters gathered in the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous, and elsewhere. Officials said preliminary investigations indicate an explosive device was planted inside the mosque in Homs, but authorities have not yet publicly identified a suspect in Friday’s bombing. Funerals were held for the dead on Saturday.
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, a branch of Shiite Islam that hard-line Islamists consider apostates.
Sunday’s demonstrations were called by Ghazal Ghazal, an Alawite sheikh living outside Syria who leads a group called the Supreme Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and the Diaspora.
An Associated Press photographer in Latakia saw pro-government counter-protesters throwing rocks at Alawite protesters, while a group of protesters beat counter-protesters who crossed over to their side. Security forces tried to break up both sides and fired into the air in an attempt to disperse them. Protesters were injured in the scuffle, but it was not immediately clear how many.
Syrian state-run television reported that two members of the security forces were wounded in the Tartous area after someone threw a hand grenade at a police station, and security forces cars were set on fire in Latakia.
The country has experienced several waves of sectarian fighting since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive in December 2024 that ended nearly 14 years of civil war. Assad, an Alawite, fled the country to Russia.
In March, an ambush by Assad supporters against security forces led to days of violence that left hundreds of people dead, most of them Alawites. Since then, although the situation has calmed down, the Alawites have been sporadically targeted in sectarian attacks. They also complained about discrimination against them in public jobs since the fall of Assad and about young Alawite men being held without charge.
During the reign of the Assad dynasty, Alawites were overrepresented in government jobs and in the army and security forces.
Government officials condemned Friday’s attack and promised to hold the perpetrators accountable, but have not yet announced any arrests.