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Sectarian Tensions Flare in Syria’s Homs After the Killing of a Bedouin Couple

People walk through a street in the old city of Homs, Syria, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP)
People walk through a street in the old city of Homs, Syria, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP)
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Sectarian Tensions Flare in Syria’s Homs After the Killing of a Bedouin Couple

People walk through a street in the old city of Homs, Syria, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP)
People walk through a street in the old city of Homs, Syria, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP)

The killing of a husband and wife from a Bedouin tribe in Syria’s Homs province on Sunday triggered renewed sectarian tensions.

The bodies were found at their home in the town of Zaidal, “with signs that the wife had been burned,” state-run news agency SANA reported, adding that “sectarian slogans were also found at the crime scene.”

“This attack appears to have the goal of fueling sectarian divisions and undermining stability in the region,” Maj. Gen. Murhaf al-Nassan, head of internal security in Homs, said in a statement.

The UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that following the killing, members of the Bani Khaled tribe to which the victims belonged descended on an Alawite-majority neighborhood in Homs and carried out “acts of arson and vandalism” targeting dozens of homes, vehicles and private properties, and opened fire indiscriminately.

The observatory said dozens of people were injured, but there was no official report of casualties. The Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora said in a statement that at least two people were killed and 10 injured and appealed to the international community to intervene “to stop these attacks and protect civilians in the Alawite neighborhoods of Homs.”

Security forces managed to regain control of the area and imposed an overnight curfew. Syria’s Interior Ministry in a statement urged citizens to “remain calm and allow the investigation (into the killings) to unfold without interference.”

Homs, the country’s third-largest city, has a mixed population of Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Alawites and Christians.

The city was spared from the major outbreak of sectarian violence on Syria’s coast in March. After pro-Assad armed groups ambushed members of the new government’s security forces on the coast, the ensuing clashes escalated into revenge attacks in which hundreds of Alawite civilians were killed.

A trial opened last week of some of the hundreds of suspects linked to the coastal violence.

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Arab World

Trump Says Israel and Lebanon Leaders to Hold Talks Thursday

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump speaks to the press outside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump speaks to the press outside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
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Trump Says Israel and Lebanon Leaders to Hold Talks Thursday

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump speaks to the press outside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump speaks to the press outside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that leaders of Israel and Lebanon will speak Thursday, after they held a high-level face-to-face meeting in Washington Tuesday -- the first such negotiation since 1993.

"Trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon. It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow," Trump wrote without specifying who will be involved or offering further details.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war on March 2 after Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel, and more than 2,000 people have been killed by Israeli strikes since.

Arab World

Damascus Foils Smuggling of 6,000 Detonators to Lebanon

Tunnel found in Homs countryside linking Qusayr to Lebanon (Syrian media)
Tunnel found in Homs countryside linking Qusayr to Lebanon (Syrian media)
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Damascus Foils Smuggling of 6,000 Detonators to Lebanon

Tunnel found in Homs countryside linking Qusayr to Lebanon (Syrian media)
Tunnel found in Homs countryside linking Qusayr to Lebanon (Syrian media)

Syrian authorities said they had thwarted an attempt to smuggle a large shipment of military-grade detonators from the Nabk area in the Qalamoun region of rural Damascus into Lebanon.

They also uncovered a cross-border tunnel and seized weapons depots prepared for smuggling, state media reported on Wednesday.

The Internal Security Directorate in Nabk said it dismantled a plan to move a large quantity of explosive detonators used in making improvised explosive devices, adding the shipment was bound for Lebanon.

In a statement, it said the operation was carried out with “high professionalism” after precise technical and field surveillance, preventing the materials from reaching their destination.

Authorities said about 6,000 detonators were seized, without identifying the smugglers or the intended recipients in Lebanon.

The announcement came as internal security forces in Homs reported discovering a tunnel linking Syrian and Lebanese territory in the border town of Housh al-Sayyed Ali, in the Qusayr area of southern Homs province.

Weapons and ammunition depots prepared for smuggling were also seized, according to the Syrian Al-Ikhbariya channel, which gave no details on who dug the tunnel.

Earlier this month, Syria’s defense ministry said it had uncovered a network of tunnels in the Qusayr area used to smuggle drugs and weapons, adding that Hezbollah had used them.

Qusayr has been one of Hezbollah’s main areas of influence in Syria since 2013, until the fall of its ally Bashar al-Assad. The area served as a key supply route from Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border in Deir al-Zor, through Palmyra and Homs, to the Lebanese border.

Media reports say tunnels are widespread along the Qusayr border, alongside informal crossings used by residents to move between the two countries. For many, smuggling has become a source of income amid worsening economic conditions, poverty, and security instability, complicating efforts to secure the border.

The developments come amid fears Syria could be drawn into a wider conflict through Lebanon and efforts to disarm Hezbollah, with backing from the United States and Israel.

On April 11, Syria’s interior ministry said its counterterrorism department, working with internal security in rural Damascus, arrested five people in a cell linked to Hezbollah after tracking suspicious activity in the capital.

Authorities said a woman in the cell was caught attempting to carry out an attack by planting an explosive device near the home of a religious figure in Bab Touma, close to the Mariamite Cathedral. Media reports identified the target as Rabbi Michael Houri.

Earlier this month, the defense ministry allowed a photographer from Agence France-Presse to document the army’s deployment along the border for the first time since reinforcements were sent about a month earlier, including several cross-border tunnels that had recently been uncovered.

Mohammad Hammoud, a Syrian-Lebanese border official, told AFP the army had discovered “a network of tunnels linking the two countries” used to smuggle weapons and drugs. A Syrian army field commander also said Hezbollah had used the tunnels.

Hezbollah fought alongside Assad’s forces in the conflict that began in 2011 as a peaceful uprising before escalating into war.

An AFP photographer saw at least five tunnels crossing the border, including one that started in a house basement and led via concrete steps into narrow, dark passageways used for transit.

On March 28, Syrian authorities said they found a tunnel near a village west of Homs linking Syria to Lebanon, adding that “Lebanese militias” had used it for smuggling before it was closed.

In February, the interior ministry said it dismantled a cell behind attacks in the Mezzeh district of Damascus, adding the weapons used had come from Hezbollah, which denied involvement.

Arab World

Beirut MPs Meet to Back Weapons-Free City Declaration

Lebanese army soldiers deploy at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut (AP)
Lebanese army soldiers deploy at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut (AP)
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Beirut MPs Meet to Back Weapons-Free City Declaration

Lebanese army soldiers deploy at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut (AP)
Lebanese army soldiers deploy at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut (AP)

Beirut lawmakers and political parties in Lebanon’s parliament will hold a conference on Thursday backing a declaration of the capital as “safe and free of weapons,” after a government decision that followed deadly Israeli attacks on the city last week.

Organizers invited all Beirut MPs except those from Hezbollah and the Islamic Group, in a move targeting the party’s arms after the government banned its military activities.

The gathering also signals support for Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who came under attack from Hezbollah after the decision.

Organizers told Asharq Al-Awsat that rejecting the targeting of Salam reflects that the move “expresses the decisions of the Council of Ministers collectively.”

Beirut MPs are expected to endorse government efforts to assert state sovereignty and cement the state’s exclusive authority over decisions of war and peace. This includes measures tied to Hezbollah, notably limiting arms to legitimate state forces.

They will also back the executive authority, represented by the president, prime minister, and cabinet, in declaring Beirut a weapons-free city, and call for a strong, comprehensive deployment of the Lebanese army and security forces to protect citizens and prevent any unauthorized arms or threats to stability.

MP Fouad Makhzoumi said the Israeli attack last Wednesday, while condemned, underscored the risks to the city’s security.

“There is no solution except to place all weapons under the control of the state, including Hezbollah’s arms. This is the gateway to strengthening stability and protecting all Lebanese,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Makhzoumi said Beirut MPs fully support the decision and stressed the need for full, uncompromising implementation.

He called for a robust deployment of the army and security forces, warning against any leniency in enforcing measures he said would protect the city, its residents, and people displaced from southern Lebanon and other areas hit by Israeli attacks.

Last week, Beirut MPs, along with economic bodies and civil society groups, called for the conference to present a unified stance on developments, reaffirm the state’s role, and press for implementation of government decisions to protect the capital, its institutions, and residents.

In a statement, they condemned Israeli strikes on Lebanese territory, including Beirut, and rejected dragging Lebanon into a war “that has nothing to do with it,” while backing government steps to reinforce sovereignty and stability.

They also denounced incitement and unrest in Beirut, saying it endangers residents and threatens security, and reiterated their commitment to national unity and rejection of sectarian strife.