3 dead, dozens injured in Syria during clashes between Alawites and counterdemonstrators

LATAKIA, Syria (AP) — Clashes broke out on Syria’s coast between protesters from the Alawite religious minority and counterdemonstrators on Sunday, killing at least three people and injuring dozens of others, health officials said.

The clashes came two days after a bombing at an Alawite mosque in the city of Homs killed eight people and wounded 18 others during prayers.

Thousands of protesters gathered in the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous, and elsewhere. Officials have said that preliminary investigations indicate that explosive devices were planted inside the mosque in Homs, but authorities haven't publicly identified a suspect yet in Friday's bombing. Funerals for the dead were held on Saturday.

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.

Sunday’s demonstrations were called for by Ghazal Ghazal, an Alawite sheikh living outside of Syria who heads a group called the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora.

An Associated Press photographer in Latakia saw pro-government counterprotesters throw rocks at the Alawite demonstrators, while a group of protesters beat a counterdemonstrator who crossed to their side. Security forces tried to break up the two sides and fired into the air in an attempt to disperse them. Demonstrators were injured in the scuffles, but it wasn't immediately clear how many.

Syria’s state-run television reported that two members of the security forces were wounded in the area of Tartous after someone threw a hand grenade at a police station, and cars belonging to security forces were set on fire in Latakia.

Later, state-run news agency SANA reported that a member of the security forces was killed by gunfire. Local health officials said that three people were killed and 60 others wounded.

The country has experienced several waves of sectarian clashes since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive in December 2024 that brought to an end nearly 14 years of civil war. 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. They have also complained of discrimination against them in public employment since Assad’s fall and of young Alawite men detained without charges.

During the rein of the Assad dynasty, Alawites were overrepresented in government jobs and in the army and security forces.

Government officials condemned Friday’s attack and promised to hold perpetrators accountable, but haven't yet announced any arrests.

A man seriously injured by a thrown stone is taken away from the area after clashes erupted between Alawite protesters from the Alawite religious minority and counterprotesters, two days after a bomb in an Alawite mosque in Homs killed eight people and wounded 18 during Friday prayers, in Latakia, Syria's coastal region, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

A man seriously injured by a thrown stone is taken away from the area after clashes erupted between Alawite protesters from the Alawite religious minority and counterprotesters, two days after a bomb in an Alawite mosque in Homs killed eight people and wounded 18 during Friday prayers, in Latakia, Syria's coastal region, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

A police officer injured by a thrown stone is helped away from the area after clashes erupted between Alawite protesters from the Alawite religious minority and counterprotesters, two days after a bomb in an Alawite mosque in Homs killed eight people and wounded 18 during Friday prayers, in Latakia, Syria's coastal region, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Protesters from the Alawite religious minority demonstrate two days after a bomb in an Alawite mosque in Homs killed eight people and wounded 18 during Friday prayers, in Latakia, Syria's coastal region, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Protesters from the Alawite religious minority demonstrate two days after a bomb in an Alawite mosque in Homs killed eight people and wounded 18 during Friday prayers, in Latakia, Syria's coastal region, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Protesters from the Alawite religious minority demonstrate two days after a bomb in an Alawite mosque in Homs killed eight people and wounded 18 during Friday prayers, in Latakia, Syria's coastal region, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Counter-protesters chant pro-government slogans at Alawite demonstrators, two days after a bomb in an Alawite mosque in Homs killed eight people and wounded 18 during Friday prayers, in Latakia, Syria's coastal region, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Syrian security officers inspect the site of an attack a day earlier at the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in the predominantly Alawite Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood of Homs, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Mourners attend the funeral of victims of an attack a day earlier at the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque, outside the mosque in the predominantly Alawite Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood of Homs, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

SEMMERING, Austria (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin was fourth and more than half a second off the pace in the opening run of a women’s World Cup slalom Sunday, putting the American’s five-race winning streak in the discipline in danger.

Shiffrin posted the fastest second split time and was one-hundredth ahead of world champion Camille Rast halfway down the Panorama course but lost considerable time on the Swiss racer in the bottom section and finished 0.54 seconds behind.

Rast led Italian-born prodigy Lara Colturi, who competes for Albania and was 0.09 seconds back in second, and Austria's Katharina Liensberger, who trailed by 0.34.

“It’s a pretty tough one. I think, probably, a little bit like overskiing, too round, compared to what’s possible," Shiffrin told Austrian TV, adding she planned to analyze video footage of her own and Rast’s run before the final leg later Sunday.

"Imagine like Camille, she is so direct on the gates, if she manages that, what must be, then it's so quick, so fast, so down the hill,” the American said.

Shiffrin won the final race of last season and then dominated the first four slaloms of the current Olympic campaign, winning them by an average margin of 1.5 seconds.

Shiffrin, who was the 2014 Olympic champion and holds the women’s World Cup record of 68 slalom wins, has won the slalom in Semmering three times, most recently in 2022 after she had won back-to-back giant slaloms in two days in the resort near Austrian capital Vienna.

Shiffrin led second-placed Colturi by 180 points in the slalom standings coming into Sunday’s race. The World Cup schedule includes three more slaloms in January before the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, and then two in March.

Zrinka Ljutic, who won the slalom globe last season, was 10th after the opening run and the Croatian racer had to make up 2.13 seconds in the final run.

Shiffrin's teammate Paula Moltzan was 1.41 off the lead, a day after she crashed and fell on her back and head in a giant slalom on the same hill. That race was won by Austria's Julia Scheib, who does not compete in slalom.

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

Albania's Lara Colturi speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Switzerland's Camille Rast speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)