Syria’s Interior Ministry says the killers likely planted misleading slogans to inflame tensions.
Syrian authorities have prolonged a sweeping curfew across parts of the western city of Homs after a weekend killing piqued sectarian tensions in the city.
Officials first imposed the restrictions on Sunday evening, but extended them through Monday evening as security forces attempted to stabilise the situation, according to the state-run SANA news agency.
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The curfew covers a range of districts, including predominantly Alawite areas, as well as nearby mixed and Sunni-majority areas. The Interior Ministry said the measure aimed to “preserve their safety” while operations continued.
The violence erupted after a married couple from a well-known Bedouin tribe were found dead in their home south of Homs.
SANA reported that sectarian slogans were left at the scene, although the Interior Ministry on Monday said investigators had found no evidence linking the killings to a sectarian motive.
In a statement, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba instead said the markings discovered at the home were likely planted “to mislead investigators and incite strife”.
The killings triggered retaliatory attacks by armed men from the Bani Khalid tribe, who moved through Alawite-majority and mixed neighbourhoods, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The men reportedly torched properties and vehicles and fired into the air. No deaths were reported, but residents described widespread fear as unrest spread.
Security forces quickly deployed across Homs and into nearby Zaidal. Major General Murhaf al-Naasan, who heads internal security in the province, initially said on Sunday that the couple’s killing “appears to have the goal of fuelling sectarian divisions and undermining stability in the region”.
But Homs police chief Colonel Bilal al-Aswad also later downplayed any sectarian motives.
On Monday, Interior Ministry spokesperson al-Baba said that 120 people suspected of being involved in violence had been arrested. Further details were not immediately available.
The incident is the latest test for the interim government of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who rose to power after a rebel offensive ousted longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
Homs, long known for its diverse population, has a history as a sectarian flashpoint.
It was one of the earliest hubs of anti-government protest during the 2011 uprising against al-Assad, whose Alawite background has shaped the city’s political and communal landscape for more than a decade.
Al-Sharaa’s fledgling government has pledged to protect minority rights in Syria.
