Implications of Homs mosque bombing, attack on Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafieh

The explosion that targeted the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood of Homs yesterday has reignited questions about the implications of targeting places of worship, especially in neighborhoods with an Alawite majority.

This bombing coincides with the ongoing siege of neighborhoods in Aleppo and a military offensive carried out by transitional government forces using heavy weaponry against Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh over the past few days, renewed again last night. These developments increase fears of an expanding cycle of violence and further societal division across Syria.

The explosion resulted in the deaths of eight people and injuries to eighteen others. Reports regarding the nature of the bombing have been conflicting, with some suggesting it was a suicide attack, while others pointed to an explosive device placed inside the mosque.

Soon after, the mercenary group “Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah” claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement published on the Telegram app, claiming to have detonated explosive devices inside the mosque, using incendiary, sectarian rhetoric.

This claim recalls a previous bombing for which the same group had taken responsibility inside a church in the Al-Duweila neighborhood of Damascus in June, indicating an escalating pattern targeting places of worship regardless of religious affiliation.

Yesterday, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in Al-Zabadani, rural Damascus, was also targeted with several hand grenades, causing material damage to the church premises.

The timing of these attacks, coupled with the rise of hate speech in the media of the Syrian transitional government, is deeply concerning, highlighting the targeting of multiple Syrian communities, Kurds, Alawites, and Druze, alongside statements by transitional government officials carrying exclusionary and inciting content.

Syrians view this alignment between official and media rhetoric and armed military attacks as creating fertile ground for the spread of extremism. It also increases the risk of mercenaries, such as ISIS, Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah, and Turkish-backed mercenaries under the transitional government’s Ministry of Defense, exploiting the situation to deepen societal divisions and sow sectarian strife.

A-H 

ANHA