Tensions rise in Homs as Alawite-targeted killings surge
Shafaq News – Damascus
A surge in sectarian-motivated killings has gripped the central Syrian province of Homs, where at least eight people, including two women, were killed over the past three days in a series of shootings by unidentified gunmen, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Monday.
The UK-based monitoring group said most of the attacks targeted civilians from the Alawite community, noting that 359 people have been killed in similar incidents since the start of 2025, making Homs “the most affected governorate in the country.”
One of the latest attacks occurred in the village of al-Mukhtabiya in the Talkalakh countryside, where two masked men stormed a barbershop owned by the father of a young woman named Mira Thabet. The assailants opened fire, killing two men—one Sunni and one Alawite—and critically wounding the shop owner before fleeing on a motorcycle.
Residents say the attacks have heightened fears of renewed sectarian retaliation, recalling earlier cycles of violence that scarred the province during the civil war years.
#المرصد_السورياسـ ـتـ ـغـ ـلال وابـ ـتـ ـزاز وتـ ـوتـ ـر طائفي على يد عناصر أمـ ـنـ ـيـ ـة في #حمصhttps://t.co/s9tsqJIpY3
— المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان (@syriahr) October 20, 2025
2025 has witnessed a rise in identity-based violence across Syria. Last March, more than 1,000 people were killed in two days of clashes and revenge attacks in the country’s western and coastal regions, according to international monitors.
A September report by Human Rights Watch documented raids and house-to-house killings of Alawite civilians in Hama, Tartus, and Latakia, warning that Syria’s fragile security environment under transitional authorities has left minority communities increasingly vulnerable.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Network for Human Rights recorded 91 civilian deaths across the country in August, with Homs accounting for nearly one-third of the total.
