ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations said on Sunday that it is closely monitoring alarming developments in Syria’s Homs, citing reports of attacks on civilians and property. The remarks come in the wake of the murder of a couple in the central province earlier in the day, which has reportedly stoked sectarian tensions.
"I am closely following worrying developments in Homs, including reports of attacks against civilians and property," Najat Rochdi, UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, said in a post on X, adding that she is also "following efforts of the Interim Authorities to address the situation."
Earlier on Sunday, a man and his wife were found dead in their home in the town of Zaidel, south of Homs, the Syrian Interior Ministry reported, citing the province's Internal Security Chief, Brig. Gen. Marhaf al-Nussan.
The couple, reportedly from a Sunni Arab Bedouin tribe, “were found dead inside their home, and the wife’s body had been burned,” Nussan said, adding that "sectarian slogans were also found at the crime scene, suggesting an attempt to incite strife among the residents.”
In a separate statement, the interior ministry reported the deployment of additional security forces in Zaidel and several other areas south of Homs following the incident. The ministry said its forces have increased readiness and “are implementing an intensive deployment within and around these areas.”
"This aims to ensure security, protect stability, and prevent any exploitation of the incident to incite strife following the murder of a man and his wife.”
For her part, Rochdi urged “the utmost need for calm to be restored, for protection of civilians, for upholding the rule of law, and for accountability for any perpetrators of violence.”
Homs, located 162 kilometers north of the capital Damascus, is Syria’s third-largest city and home to a diverse population of Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Alawites, and Christians.
The historically contested city experienced a major shift in December 2024, when a coalition of opposition forces led by the now-dissolved Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - then headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa - toppled the regime of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad.
In a Sunday interview with Rudaw, the head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Rami Abdulrahman, warned that the situation in Homs could take a sectarian turn.
He reported that two young Alawite men had recently been killed, but "the Syrian authorities took no visible action." Abdulrahman further claimed that some “are seeking to displace the Alawites from Homs.”