ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Syrian security forces on Sunday carried out a violent crackdown on Alawite protesters in western Syria that has resulted in civilian casualties, marking yet another flare-up of sectarian tension between Damascus and one of the country's aggrieved religious minorities.

Masses of Alawites rallied in several west Syrian cities to protest a recent bombing at a Mosque in an Alawite-majority neighborhood of Homs on Friday, resulting in the death of eight people. Saraya Ansar al-Sunna, a Sunni Islamist militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack hours later.

Shortly after the protests began, Syrian security forces opened live rounds on demonstrators. Footage circulating online displayed injuries, with some others purporting to show fatalities.

The exact casualty figure is not available at the time of writing this article; however, online footage suggests that the toll could reach dozens.

Protesters were also attacked by pro-government Sunni communities who staged counter-protests, leading to clashes with the Alawites.

“A number of protesters sustained injuries, one of them critical, following an attack by supporters of the interim government using machetes and knives against demonstrators,” in the Alawite-majority Latakia, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

“Security forces also prevented journalists from filming and documenting the events,” it added.

Syrian state media did not report on violence against the protesters and instead accused the Alawite demonstrators of targeting security forces.

The head of Internal Security in Latakia, Abudulaziz Hilal al-Ahmed, told SANA that alleged loyalists of the former Baath regime targeted the Syrian internal security and injured some officers, as well as vandalizing the forces’ vehicles and property.

“Two members of the internal security forces were injured in the Banias countryside [in the Alawite-majority Tartous]… when unknown assailants threw a hand grenade,” he added.

Despite government claims linking the Alawite protesters to loyalists of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, footage showed demonstrators stepping on and burning images of the former leader in an apparent effort to distance themselves from the accusations.

The protests followed a call by the Alawite spiritual leader Sheikh Ghazal Ghazal in response to the recent Homs explosion, asserting that the community is not asking for a civil war but a “political federation.”

The leader’s calls were reflected in the protest chants, which demanded a decentralized system of governance, the release of the Alawite prisoners detained following the fall of the Baath regime, and confirmation of their adherence to peaceful measures and the rejection of another civil war.

Masses of Alawites in cities of western Syria rallied on Sunday in protest of a recent explosion in Homs which claimed the lives of eight people. The demonstrators chanted pro-federalism slogans and called for the release of prisoners, prompting a crackdown from Syrian security… pic.twitter.com/eoyacba2hw

— The New Region (@thenewregion) December 28, 2025

In November, the Alawite population held another protest in response to the Damascus government’s multiple episodes of bloodshed after Assad was ousted by rebel forces currently in power, including a March confrontation that led to at least 1,400 deaths, most of them Alawite civilians.