Syria: Tensions flare in Homs after killing of Bedouin couple sparks sectarian unrest

Tensions flared in Syria's central city of Homs on Sunday after the killing of a Sunni Bedouin man and his wife triggered a wave of violence against members of the Alawi community.

The state-run Sana news agency reported that the violence erupted in the town of Zaidal, some 7km east of Homs, after a member of the Bani Khaled tribe was reportedly stoned to death and his wife burned alive.

Sana said that "sectarian slogans and threats of similar attacks" were daubed on the walls at the scene of the killings, allegedly written in the victims' own blood.

Following the reports of the killings, armed Bedouin men from the Bani Khaled tribe rampaged through Alawi-majority areas of Homs, where they set fire to homes and cars and fired indiscriminately, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Videos posted on social media appeared to show Bedouin tribesmen setting homes ablaze, while some showed plainclothed security forces helping Alawi residents evacuate neighbourhoods after their building was set on fire.

Shortly after the violence began, local authorities imposed a curfew which was later extended to Monday evening. By 16:00 GMT Monday, the violence around the city appeared to have subsided, Sana reported.

Syria's interior ministry urged local residents to "remain calm and allow the investigation [into the killings] to unfold without interference", while interior ministry spokesman Noreddine al-Baba said there was "no material evidence" to suggest the killings were motivated by sectarianism.

Murhaf al-Naasan, the head of the government's internal security forces in Homs, also said that the couple's killing appeared to "have the goal of fuelling sectarian divisions and undermining stability in the region".

Homs, Syria's third-largest city, has a mixed population of Sunni and Shia Muslims, Alawis and Christians.

The city was spared from the major outbreak of sectarian violence that erupted in March when gunmen loyal to the government of former President Bashar al-Assad ambushed members of the new government's security forces on the coast.

The ensuing clashes escalated into revenge attacks in which hundreds of Alawis were killed.

In a video released on social media on Monday, members of the Bani Khaled tribe called on authorities to investigate the couple's killing and bring the perpetrators to justice.

They, along with the victims' family, also rejected attempts to drag the tribe into sectarian disputes.