HOMS, Syria (AP) — Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday in the rain and cold outside of a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs for the funeral of eight people killed in a bombing, as an imam warned that the attack could spark more sectarian violence.

The crowd assembled next to the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque, the target of Friday’s attack that also wounded 18 others. The population of the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood, where the mosque is located, is predominantly from the Alawite minority. They later drove in convoys to bury the victims.

Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect.

A little-known 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 intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates.

The same group had previously claimed a suicide attack in June in which a gunman opened fire and then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church in Dweil’a, on the outskirts of Damascus, killing 25 people as worshippers prayed on a Sunday.

A neighbor of the mosque, who asked to be identified only by the honorific Abu Ahmad (“father of Ahmad”) out of security concerns, said he was at home when he heard the sound of a “very very strong explosion.”

He and other neighbors went to the mosque and saw terrified people running out, he said. They entered and began trying to help the wounded.

Sheikh Mohieddin Salloum, the imam of the mosque, who was lightly injured in the explosion, said the mosque was Alawite but was open to Muslims of other sects to come and pray, and they often did so.

“This is God’s house — our Sunni neighbors come and pray here with us, but in small numbers. They might be five or 10” out of 300 attendees during Friday prayer, he said.

Salloum said he believes the attack was intended to set off a new round of sectarian strife as the country struggles to heal after a nearly 14-year civil war that ended with the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in December 2024.

Anger was palpable among Alawite residents who gathered for the funeral, but the imam called for calm.

“They set an explosion in an Alawite mosque to create emotions of hate and anger among the Alawites, and maybe a few days later someone will set off an explosion in a Sunni mosque and say that the Alawites took revenge,” Salloum said. “Then the idiots from both sides will come and start fighting, and we’ll all be dragged behind them if we don’t keep level heads.”

The country has experienced several waves of sectarian clashes since Assad’s fall. Assad, an Alawite, fled the country to Russia.

In March, an ambush carried out by 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.

Syrian government officials condemned Friday’s attack and pledged to hold the perpetrators accountable.

Mourners prayed outside because they were unable to enter the mosque as the crime scene remained cordoned off. Some marched through the streets chanting “Ya Ali,” a reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law whom Shiite Muslims consider to be his rightful successor.

IDLIB, Syria (AP) — A bombing at a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs during Friday prayers killed at least eight people and wounded 18 others, authorities said, as long-standing sectarian, ethnic and political fault lines continue to destabilize the country, even as large-scale fighting has subsided.

Images released by Syria’s state-run Arab News Agency showed blood on the mosque’s carpets, holes in the walls, shattered windows and fire damage. The Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque is located in Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, in an area of the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood dominated by the Alawite minority.

SANA, citing a security source, said that preliminary investigations indicate that explosive devices were planted inside the mosque.Authorities were searching for the perpetrators, who have not yet been identified, and a security cordon was placed around the building, Syria’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.

A little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its Telegram channel. The same group had previously claimed a suicide attack in June in which a gunman opened fire and then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church in Dweil’a, on the outskirts of Damascus, killing 25 people as worshippers prayed on a Sunday.

The Syrian government blamed the church attack on a cell of the Islamic State group, saying IS had also planned to target a Shiite Muslim shrine. IS did not claim responsibility for the attack. The group follows an extreme interpretation of Sunni Islam and considers Shiites to be infidels.

Syria recently joined the global coalition against IS and has launched a crackdown on IS cells, particularly after an attack on U.S. forces earlier this month that killed two service members and a civilian translator.

The country has experienced several waves of sectarian clashes since the fall of President Bashar Assad last year. Assad, himself an Alawite, fled the country to Russia. Members of his sect have been subjected to crackdowns.

In March, an ambush carried out by Assad’s supporters against security forces triggered days of violence that left hundreds of people dead, most of them Alawites.

In a statement, the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora described the attack as “a continuation of the organized extremist terrorism specifically targeting the Alawite community, and increasingly other Syrian groups as well.”

The council held the Syrian government “fully and directly responsible for these crimes,” adding that “these criminal acts will not go unanswered.”

Local officials condemned Friday’s attack, saying it came “within the context of repeated desperate attempts to undermine security and stability and sow chaos among the Syrian people.”

“Syria reiterates its firm stance in combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added in a statement.

“Remnants of the former regime, IS militants and collaborators have converged on a single goal: obstructing the path of the new state by undermining stability, threatening civil peace, and eroding the shared coexistence and common destiny of Syrians throughout history,” the Syrian information minister said in a post on X.

The mosque’s deputy imam — a religious official who helps lead prayers — told Syria’s state-run Al-Ikhbariyah television that worshippers were praying when they “heard a loud explosion that knocked us to the ground. Fire broke out in one corner of the mosque. Those of us who were not wounded rushed to help get the injured out. Within minutes, general security forces and the Red Crescent arrived.”

“The explosion was huge,” he said. “It shattered the mosque’s windows and caused a fire that burned copies of the Holy Quran.”

Neighboring countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon, also condemned the attack. In a statement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reaffirmed “Lebanon’s support for Syria in its fight against terrorism.”

On Monday, clashes erupted intermittently between Syrian government forces and Kurdish-led fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, in mixed neighborhoods in the northern city of Aleppo, forcing temporary closures of schools and public institutions and prompting civilians to shelter indoors. A late-evening ceasefire was then announced by both sides amid ongoing de-escalation efforts.

Abou Aljoud contributed from Beirut.

KYIV, Aug 21 (Reuters) – Russia targeted a U.S.-founded electronics manufacturer near Ukraine’s border with the European Union in a major air attack on Thursday as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sought U.S. support to bring Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.

The overnight attack, which included 574 drones and 40 missiles, was one of the largest of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour, now in its fourth year.

One person was killed and 22 were wounded, most of them in the attack that damaged storage facilities at the electronics manufacturer in Ukraine’s far-Western Zakarpattia region, authorities said.

“It was a regular civilian business, supported by American investment, producing everyday items like coffee machines. And yet, it was also a target for the Russians,” Zelenskiy wrote on X.

“This is very telling.”

Mukachevo mayor Andriy Baloha said the damaged enterprise belonged to the U.S.-listed company Flex Ltd. The corporate headquarters of the company, a global technology, supply chain and advanced manufacturing solutions partner, is in Austin, Texas and its registered office is in Singapore.

The company employed thousands of the area’s residents, Baloha said. Flex, which grew from a family firm founded in Silicon Valley in 1969, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Ukraine’s western city of Lviv, the attack killed one person, wounded three others and damaged 26 homes, said Governor Maksym Kozytskyi. Authorities in southeastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region also reported damage to businesses, homes and gas lines. Two industry sources told Reuters a key gas pumping facility had been attacked, without giving a location.

Russia said Putin had repeatedly said he was ready to meet Zelenskiy but that Ukraine was trying to undermine Trump’s efforts to resolve the conflict and its leader was illegitimate.

The defence ministry in Moscow said it had struck Ukrainian energy and airfield infrastructure as well as military industrial facilities overnight, and captured another frontline village – Oleksandro-Shultyne, Russian news agency RIA reported. Ukraine said it had hit a Russian oil refinery, a drone warehouse and a fuel base.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

U.S. President Donald Trump met both Zelenskiy and Vladimir Putin over the past week in pursuit of a diplomatic end to the fighting but has acknowledged that his Russian counterpart may not want to make a deal. Zelenskiy urged Trump to react firmly if that was the case.

“We are ready. But what if the Russians are not ready?” he said in comments released on Thursday. “If the Russians are not ready, we would like to see a strong reaction from the United States.”

U.S. and European military planners have begun exploring post-conflict security guarantees for Ukraine, according to U.S. officials and sources, but the path to peace remained uncertain.

A defence ministry source in Turkey, which has opposed sanctions on Russia while also giving military help to Ukraine and joining a “Coalition of the Willing” to help it with post-conflict security, said peace was still far off.

“It is necessary to first secure a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, then determine the framework of a mission with a clear mandate, and clarify the extent to which each country will contribute,” the Turkish source said on condition of anonymity.

The Kremlin said Putin had discussed Ukraine with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, when Moscow also said attempts to resolve security issues without Russian involvement were a “road to nowhere”.

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was ready for an honest talk about security guarantees for Ukraine and accused Ukraine’s European backers of ‘adventurism’ by excluding Moscow from their discussions.

Russia, which denies targeting civilians, has used missiles and drones to strike Ukrainian towns and cities far from the front lines throughout the war.

Thousands of civilians, the vast majority of them Ukrainian, have been killed since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of February 2022. More than a million Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are estimated to have been killed or wounded.

(Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko; Writing by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Tomasz Janowski, Philippa Fletcher)