News / Syria

Gunmen kill 13 people in Shia-populated villages in Syria’s Homs

Friday, 24 January 2025 7:37 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 24 January 2025 3:00 PM ]

Militants enter the village of Anjara in western outskirts of Syria's Aleppo on November 28, 2024. (Photo by AP)

At least 13 people have been killed in Shia-populated villages in Syria’s Homs Province, amid raids by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) administration forces and local gunmen.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Thursday that the Military Operations Administration, backed by local gunmen, conducted “a large-scale security campaign” in the western countryside of Homs, west of Syria.

According to the report, “four civilians” were killed in unlawful “extrajudicial executions” in al-Ghozaylah al-Gharbiyah and al-Hamam villages. Ten people were also injured, while five were arrested during the raid.

Also on Thursday, the group said the security forces arrested five people in al-Kanisah village.

Three more people were arrested in Tarin village, where three others were injured in indiscriminate firing.

Moreover, 27 people were detained in Kafrnan village, while injuries were also reported.

The group also documented several assaults and abuses against locals, including being forced to bray and bark, while tombstones were destroyed.

Later in the day, the SOHR said unknown gunmen killed a man in “an extrajudicial killing” in Tasnin village in the northern countryside of Homa, after raiding his home.

Four bodies were also retrieved in al-Shinyah Village, northwest of Homs.

Meanwhile, unknown gunmen killed four people and injured two others east of Maryamin village, after they refused to remove the photos of their religious references.

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On Tuesday, at least six people were killed in al-Ghor Al-Gharbiya village, mostly inhabited by members of the Shia minority, in a campaign conducted by forces from the HTS administration against the alleged remnants of the former government of President Bashar Al-Assad.

Over the past days, the forces of the HTS administration have launched campaigns against alleged “wanted and armed people, who refuse to make a settlement and hand over their weapons.”

According to the observatory, “83 retaliatory operations” have been recorded in various Syrian provinces since the start of 2025, killing 166, including five women, over their sectarian affiliation.

The attacks come while the HTS administration has sought to assure religious and ethnic minorities that their rights would be upheld.

The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group along with other militants seized control of Damascus on December 8, 2024, forcing Assad to leave the country.

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