Eight people were killed in an explosion at a mosque of the Alawite minority sect in the Syrian city of Homs on Friday (Dec 26), Syrian state news agency SANA said.

A deadly explosion struck the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in Homs, Syria, on Friday, killing at least eight people and injuring 18 others.

Tensions have flared across several parts of Syria in recent weeks as long-running sectarian, ethnic and political fault lines continue to destabilize the country, even as large-scale fighting has sub...