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| Survivors recall panic after deadly mosque blast in Syria’s Homs, Alawite leader calls for mass protests about federalism |
| 2025-12-28 |
Follow up to this story from yesterday. [Rudaw] Survivors on Saturday described scenes of fear and grief after a kaboom on Friday struck a mosque in Syria’s Homs province, killing at least eight people and wounding around 20 others."The sound of the earth-shattering kaboom was very loud. At first, we were shocked until I realized a kaboom had occurred in the center of the mosque, and people fled out of fear," Mihyaddin Saloum, the mosque’s preacher, told Rudaw. The blast hit the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood of southeastern Homs. Saloum said the mosque serves worshippers from different sects. "The mosque is Alawite, but some of our Sunni brothers come [and pray] with us. This is very normal," he said, adding, "This is not a new situation. I have been the preacher of this mosque since 2009, and my fellow sheikhs and I get along well." Among the injured was Ahmed Ibrahim, who was discharged from the hospital after sustaining head wounds. A regular attendee of Friday prayers at the mosque, Ibrahim recalled the moment of the blast. "I was hit on the head, and a shrapnel hit me. When the earth-shattering kaboom happened, I threw myself to the side," he said. "I lowered myself, and I felt something hit my head, and I got up. I got outside close to the door, and people were getting out," he added. Five of the victims were buried at a cemetery in Homs, where families continued to mourn the loss of their loved ones. Saraya Ansar al-Sunna, …an offshoot of Syria’s conquerors, Hayat Tahrir al Sham/Al Nusra… a radical Sunni Islamist krazed killer group, grabbed credit for the attack on Friday, saying it was carried out "in cooperation with mujahideen [jihadists] from another group."So was that other group HTS, Turkey’s catspaw, the so-called Syrian National Army, ISIS, or something else? The group said the earth-shattering kaboom involved "a number of bombs" and claimed around 40 people were killed or injured. It added that "our attacks will continue to increase and will target infidels and apostates."The group had also grabbed credit for a deadly suicide kaboom attack at the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus’s Christian-majority Dweila neighborhood in June. The attack left at least 22 dead and 63 injured, according to state media. Homs, once dubbed the “capital of the revolution,” has been a focal point of Syria’s conflict since 2011 and has witnessed repeated waves of violence, sectarian tension and displacement, according to the Associated Press. Syria’s Alawite minority, from which the ruling Assad family hails, has often been targeted by extremist groups during the war, as sectarian divisions deepened amid years of fighting and political fragmentation. Syria’s prominent Alawite leader calls for mass protests [Rudaw] The leader of Syria’s Alawite community on Saturday called on the members of the sect to stage mass demonstrations on Sunday to demand “political federalism” and protest violence targeting the minority group. The call comes a day after an explosion killed eight people at an Alawite mosque in Homs. “Tomorrow will be a peaceful human flood filling the squares, and we call on every free and honorable person from the other components to stand with us and support us in our demands,” Ghazal Ghazal, head of the Supreme Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and Abroad, said in a video message. “We do not want a civil war. We want political federalism. We do not want your terrorism. We want our right to self-determination,” he said in an apparent message to the transitional government in Damascus, led by Islamist figures. But your Hayat Tahrir al Sham conquerers want you to accept being conquered, instead of foolishly demanding an equality they will never give you. And you can’t shame them in front of the world, because they believe their god demands that, too. “Our appointment is tomorrow from twelve o'clock until five o'clock in the afternoon, Sunday.”Ghazal’s call follows Friday’s explosion at the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood of southeastern Homs, which killed at least eight people and wounded around 20 others, according to Syrian state media. A radical Sunni Islamist militant group, Saraya Ansar al-Sunna, claimed responsibility, saying the attack was carried out “in cooperation with mujahideen [jihadists] from another group.” No one has been arrested over the blast. Violence has persisted in parts of Syria since the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad by the now-dissolved jihadist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Its former leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, now serves as interim president. That’s “dissolved” and “interim”, where each is defined as being its opposite. In case anyone wondered. The interim authorities have faced mounting criticism over their centralized style of governance. In March, Sharaa signed a constitutional declaration emphasizing Islamic jurisprudence, drawing backlash from Alawite, Christian, Druze, and Kurdish communities, who viewed it as exclusionary.Ues. Your point? Calls for decentralization or federalism have grown among Alawites, Druze, and Kurds following waves of violence, especially after clashes left nearly 800 dead in the Druze-majority Suwayda province in mid-July and in Alawite-majority coastal regions in March, which war monitors say left nearly 2,000 people dead. Damascus and its affiliated forces have been held responsible for killing many civilians.“What we are experiencing today is not a passing incident or blind chaos, but a systematic war of extermination practiced against us in full view and hearing of the world,” Ghazal said. “This [Damascus] authority has not left any form of crime without committing it against us. We are killed in places of worship. We are slaughtered in our homes.” Ghazal also appealed to “the international community and decision-makers,” warning that “silence about these crimes means nothing but more killing and more collapse,” and called for “radical, genuine, and swift solutions,” including “international protection.” In November, Ghazal similarly called for demonstrations, which were held in several areas across Latakia and Tartus provinces along the Syrian coast, as well as parts of Hama and Homs. Protesters at the time demanded federalism, political decentralization, the release of detainees, and an end to violence against minorities. Syria’s interior ministry then warned against what it described as “schemes” to sow discord, cautioned against sectarian slogans, and said security forces had been deployed to protect demonstrations. |
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