Homs, Syria, the Wadi al Dahab neighborhood in the city of Homs in central Syria witnessed, on Friday, an explosion inside the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque during Friday prayers, resulting in the deaths of 8 people and injuries to 18 others, according to a preliminary toll announced by the Ministry of Health in the Syrian transitional government.
The Director of the Referral, Ambulance, and Emergency Department at the Ministry of Health, Najib al-Naasan, explained in statements to the official Syrian Arab News Agency SANA that the toll could rise given that a number of the injured are in critical condition.
Al Hadath news channel reported that the Islamic State organization announced, through affiliated accounts, that it had claimed responsibility for the attack targeting the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in the city of Homs.
Youssef Ali, a journalist residing in the coastal city of Latakia in western Syria, said that the attack targeting the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al Dahab neighborhood of Homs, which was claimed by the Islamic State organization, cannot be separated from the group’s general strategy over the years to reproduce sectarian chaos in Syria and to mix security and social cards at an extremely sensitive stage.
Ali added in statements to +963 that the choice of an Alawite mosque as a target reflects direct sectarian targeting consistent with the takfiri ideology of the Islamic State, which does not distinguish between a mosque and a church, nor between one component and another, in an attempt to strike at the Syrian social fabric through targeting places of worship.
He pointed out that this type of operation does not aim only to cause the highest possible number of casualties, but rather seeks to achieve a doubled psychological and media impact by spreading fear within local communities and portraying the existing authorities as incapable of protecting civilians, which is one of the central objectives of the Islamic State in the post territorial loss phase.
He noted that the attack carries a clear political and strategic dimension, as it comes in areas of demographic and historical sensitivity such as Homs, with the aim of undermining any potential path toward restoring stability or rebuilding trust among Syrian components.
The Syrian journalist warned that the most dangerous aspect of these attacks is the reproduction of the discourse of sedition, as the organization bets on emotional or retaliatory reactions that could drag the country into a spiral of mutual violence, serving its project based on comprehensive chaos.
He emphasized that the bombing of the Wadi al Dahab Mosque, like the earlier bombing of Mar Elias Church in Damascus, are not isolated incidents, but rather two links in a chain of organized takfiri attacks aimed at undermining security, deepening societal division, and obstructing any serious attempt to rebuild stability in Syria. He stressed that confronting this danger requires precise security and intelligence work, alongside comprehensive political and social treatment of the environment of extremism.
In turn, the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the diaspora issued a statement condemning the targeting of the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al Dahab area of Homs, considering that “this bombing represents a continuation of organized takfiri terrorist acts practiced particularly against the Alawite component, and increasingly against other Syrian components.”
The council explained in a statement published on the Facebook platform that “the nature and method of this attack are consistent with previous terrorist incidents, including a bombing that targeted American soldiers near the city of Palmyra in eastern Syria, which resulted in the deaths of three soldiers, as well as the bombing of Mar Elias Church in the Dweilaa neighborhood of Damascus,” affirming that “these crimes are not individual incidents or isolated transgressions, but rather reflect unity of approach and perpetrator.”
For its part, a security source told SANA that preliminary investigations showed that the explosion resulted from explosive devices planted inside the mosque, confirming that the competent authorities continue investigations to uncover the circumstances of the crime and identify those responsible.
Civil defense teams began work to remove the debris inside the mosque, while SANA published photos and video footage documenting the extent of the damage caused by the explosion.
On the official level, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the interim government condemned the bombing, considering that this criminal act constitutes a blatant assault on human and moral values and comes within the framework of repeated attempts to destabilize security and stability and spread chaos among the Syrian people.
The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its condemnation of the bombing, affirming the Kingdom’s full solidarity with Syria and its rejection of all forms of violence and terrorism aimed at undermining security and stability.
In Lebanon, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attack, renewing Lebanon’s support for Syria in its war against terrorism and its pursuit of building a state of freedom, democracy, and modernity.
For its part, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed its denunciation of the attack on the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque, stressing its categorical rejection of terrorism, extremism, the targeting of places of worship, and the terrorizing of civilians, and expressing support for the efforts of the Syrian government aimed at restoring security and stability in the country.
