There was violence on Sunday as thousands of protesters from Syria's Alawite religious minority took to the streets in coastal and central parts of the country, two days after a mosque bombing killed eight people.
The demonstrations were called for by Ghazal Ghazal, an Alawite sheikh who lives outside Syria and is believed to be leading a group called the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora.
State news agency Sana reported that three people were killed and 60 were wounded in attacks on security forces and civilians “by remnants of the defunct regime” during the protests in the coastal city of Latakia.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Syrian security forces killed two people while dispersing the protests.
Syrian authorities did not confirm they had opened fire, but said they had “contained the situation” and accused what they called “remnants” of former ruler Bashar Al Assad's government of attacking security forces.
Sana also quoted the internal security chief in Latakia, Brig Gen Abdul Aziz Al Ahmad, as saying that security officers were injured and police vehicles were damaged in an attack.
Syria’s state-run TV reported that two members of the security forces were wounded in the area of Tartus after a hand grenade was thrown at a police station.
The protests come two days after a bombing at an Alawite mosque in the city of Homs killed eight people and wounded 18 others during prayers.
Officials have said that preliminary investigations indicate that explosive devices were planted inside the mosque in Homs, but authorities have not publicly identified a suspect yet in Friday's bombing. Funerals for the dead were held on Saturday.
A 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, an offshoot of Shiite Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates.
Government officials condemned Friday’s attack and promised to hold perpetrators accountable, but have not yet announced any arrests.
The country has experienced several waves of sectarian clashes since the fall of Mr Al Assad in a lightning rebel offensive in December 2024 that brought to an end nearly 14 years of civil war. Mr Al Assad, an Alawite, fled the country to Russia.
In March, an ambush carried out by Mr Al Assad’s supporters against security forces triggered days of violence that left hundreds of people dead, most of them Alawites. Since then, although the situation has calmed, Alawites have been targeted sporadically in sectarian attacks. They have also complained of discrimination against them in public employment since Mr Al Assad’s fall and of young Alawite men detained without charges.
During the reign of the Assad dynasty, Alawites were over-represented in government jobs and in the army and security forces.
Since the overthrow of the Assad regime just over a year ago, Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara's rule has been challenged by the country's minority groups. Calls for decentralisation and federalism by the Kurds, Alawites and Druze have grown.
Last month, protests demanding protection erupted in the coastal area and were said to have also been called by Sheikh Ghazal. He was close to the former president and his late father, Hafez Al Assad. Sheikh Ghazal fled Syria to an unknown destination after the fall of the Assad regime.
