The main security trend in Homs governorate during the reference period were targeted killings, often by unknown gunmen, predominantly targeting Alawite civilians.754 Incidents of civilian killings were recorded mainly in Homs city,755 such as the killing of four Alawite hospital personnel in January 2026,756 but also across the governorate.757 In the context of such attacks, security personnel was often perceived as absent or, if present, not intervening sufficiently to contain the attacks,758 or as otherwise failing.759 The killing of a Bedouin couple from the Sunni Bani Khalid tribe in the town of Zaidal in November 2025, allegedly for sectarian motives, led to an outbreak of violence, with Bedouin tribes reportedly attacking Alawite-majority neighbourhoods in Homs city, causing material damage and assaults on civilians,760 before security forces intervened and contained the situation.761 According to some accounts, 2 people were killed and 18 injured in the attacks.762 While the killing later turned out to have a criminal background, the response was ‘undeniably sectarian’, with a ‘sectarian pattern of targeting’ and ‘systematised attacks’ on Alawite neighbourhoods.763 In the context of these attacks, sources pointed to the uncontrolled presence of arms among tribal groups,764 and described the situation since the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s government as an ongoing ‘security chaos’,765 or ─ given the lack of transitional justice institutions ─ as law being replaced by chaos and revenge.766 STJ similarly noted that the lack of results from investigations and the failure to hold perpetrators accountable contributed to the prevailing impunity.767 At least 8 people were killed and 22 injured in an IED attack in an Alawite mosque in Homs city.768 Saraya Ansar Al Sunna, a non-state armed group, reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. According to Syrian authorities, those responsible for the attack had been detained and identified as ISIL members.769
Another trend observed in Homs governorate during the reference period was the seizure of property in neighbourhoods or of individuals presumed loyal to the former Assad government,770 as well as forced evictions of former army personnel,771 and members of the Shia and Alawite minorities.772
US and US-led airstrikes on presumed ISIL positions were reported in December 2025773 and early 2026,774 following a deadly attack on US forces by a suspected ISIL-affiliated gunman in Palmyra in mid-December 2025.775
- 754
STJ, Drive-by Killings: A Recurrent Pattern of Direct Killings Using Motorcycles Against Civilians in Syria, 26 February 2026, url, pp. 3-4
- 755
Belgium, CGRS-CEDOCA, Syrië: Veiligheidssituatie (ACLED), 31 March 2026, url, p. 27; Enab Baladi, Homs, Syria: “Mobile Killings” Claim 30 Civilian Lives in Two Months, 1 March 2026, url
- 756
STJ, Drive-by Killings: A Recurrent Pattern of Direct Killings Using Motorcycles Against Civilians in Syria, 26 February 2026, url, p. 4
- 757
Enab Baladi, Homs, Security forces move to contain fallout from sectarian-motivated crime, 24 November 2025, url
- 758
STJ, Zaidal/Homs Crime: Disinformation and Sectarian Incitement Behind Violence Against Civilians, 3 February 2026, url, p. 13
- 759
Al-Hal, Iman Jarrous: Third Targeted Killing in Homs Within a Week, The Syrian Observer, 26 February 2026, url; New Arab (The), Homs: A stability test that Syria's new authorities are failing, 4 December 2025, url
- 760
Enab Baladi, Homs, Security forces move to contain fallout from sectarian-motivated crime, 24 November 2025, url
- 761
New Arab (The), Syria extends curfew in Homs after murder, sectarian violence, 24 November 2025, url
- 762
Al Monitor, Curfew extended in Syria’s Homs following Bedouin-Alawite clashes: What to know, 24 November 2025, url
- 763
New Arab (The), Homs: A stability test that Syria's new authorities are failing, 4 December 2025, url
- 764
New Arab (The), Homs: A stability test that Syria's new authorities are failing, 4 December 2025, url; Al Jazeera, Aftermath of Homs killings may mark turning point for Syria’s government, 26 November 2025, url
- 765
New Arab (The), Homs: A stability test that Syria's new authorities are failing, 4 December 2025, url
- 766
Shahin, K., In Homs, Revenge Is the Only Law Left Standing, New Lines Magazine, 25 November 2025, url
- 767
STJ, Drive-by Killings: A Recurrent Pattern of Direct Killings Using Motorcycles Against Civilians in Syria, 26 February 2026, url, p. 3
- 768
International Crisis Group, Crisis Watch – Syria: December 2024 – April 2026, n.d., url
- 769
UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, A/HRC/61/62, 12 March 2026, url, para. 100
- 770
Al-Jumhuriya, Home Seizures in Homs, 12 March 2026, url
- 771
Shahin, K., In Homs, Revenge Is the Only Law Left Standing, New Lines Magazine, 25 November 2025, url
- 772
Syria Report (The), Displacement and Property Seizure Continue to Affect Shia Residents in Homs, 3 March 2026, url
- 773
ISW and CTP, Iran Update, December 22, 2025, 22 December 2025, url; Ibrahim Hamidi, [X], posted on: 19 December 2025, url
- 774
SOHR, Ongoing attacks on former ISIS positions | Series of airstrikes target positions in Syrian Desert, 9 February 2026, url; BBC, UK and France bomb underground IS arms bunker in Syria, 4 January 2026, url
- 775
FDD’s Long War Journal, US launches widespread airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria after deadly Palmyra attack, 19 December 2025, url