On the evening of 5 January 2026, a murder was committed against three civilians in the village of Abu Hakfa, located east of the city of Homs, in central Syria.
The victims are: “Farhan Ma‘rouf, a civilian from the village; Muntajab Ma‘rouf, the son of Farhan Ma‘rouf; Mohammad Sha‘ban, a schoolteacher.”
The victims belong to the Alawite sect and were all present inside a grocery shop owned by Farhan Ma‘rouf at the moment the attack occurred.
According to available information, masked gunmen traveling in a vehicle opened direct fire on the grocery shop while the victims were inside, killing all of them instantly. The identity of the gunmen and the party behind the attack remain unknown to date.
This crime comes amid an escalation of killings and violations against civilians in Homs Governorate during the same period. On the evening of Tuesday, 30 December 2025, armed groups affiliated with the interim authority arrested engineer Osama Abdul Mu‘in Khaddour, a civilian belonging to the Alawite sect, from his home in the Al-Sabil neighborhood of Homs city, near Issa Al-Fahli School. On 1 January 2026, his family received news that his body was inside the morgue refrigerator at Al-Waer Hospital in Homs city.
During the same period, the killing of Wael Faraj Al-Fou‘ani was documented; he was killed on 1 January 2026 in front of his shop in the Al-Walid suburb of Homs city. He was a civilian belonging to the Shiite sect.
The latest crime, alongside the other killings witnessed in Homs Governorate during the same period, reflects a troubling pattern of grave violations of the right to life and personal security, amid a state of security breakdown, the absence of effective accountability mechanisms, and the lack of any real guarantees for the protection of civilians, particularly in areas under the control of the interim authority.
