According to testimony obtained by Syrdoc from the relatives of the victim, Abu Majd (Hussein Salama), the incident began when the assailant boarded the taxi as an ordinary passenger. As the vehicle set off, the driver asked him about his destination while activating the fare meter. At that moment, the assailant suddenly directed a direct question at Abu Majd:

“Are you Alawite?”

The victim replied:
“My brother… yes, I am Alawite.”

According to the family’s account, the assailant works with his brother in a butcher shop and was carrying a meat-mincing knife typically used for cutting and grinding meat. Without warning, he pulled out the knife and struck the driver in the neck with the clear intent to slit his throat.

In an attempt to protect himself, Abu Majd raised his hand to block the blade, causing the arteries in his palm to be severed before the knife continued toward his neck due to the force of the blow. A violent struggle then erupted inside the vehicle. Passers-by eventually noticed the commotion; one of them opened the car door, causing the victim to fall to the ground covered in blood. Bystanders quickly restrained the assailant, detained him, and called emergency services.

Victim’s Identity
• Name: Hussein Salama (Abu Majd)
• Residence: Al-Areed Street, an Alawite neighborhood in Tartous
• Profession: Taxi driver for nearly 45 years
• Medical history: Open-heart surgery, arterial bypass in the legs, hypertension, diabetes

Assailant’s Identity
• Residence: Al-Baraniyah neighborhood
• Name: Ali Ahmad Bashir (as confirmed by eyewitnesses and verified reports)
• Affiliation: Adherent of extremist takfiri jihadist ideology
• Weapon: Meat-mincing knife carried from the butcher shop where he works with his brother
• Media narrative: Outlets affiliated with the de facto authority quickly attempted to frame the attacker as “mentally ill” to absolve him of sectarian intent—yet a “mentally ill person” who targets a victim solely for being Alawite is a rather convenient and implausible explanation.

🔸 Incident Details

Civilian Zahed Younes Mustafa was killed after being targeted by armed militants affiliated with the de facto authority’s terrorist elements while returning from the city of Homs to his village.

The attack occurred on the road between Turkmen Tisneen and Kafrnan, where the victim was struck by two bullets that caused his immediate death.

The perpetrators were riding a motorcycle and fled toward the village of Tisneen after executing the attack.

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🟥 A Systematic Sectarian Pattern

In recent months, the village of Kafrnan has witnessed a series of repeated sectarian-motivated killings, resulting in the deaths of six civilians in three separate incidents, including:

1. 27 September 2025

The killing of Amjad Rakan al-Suweid, a civilian who was shot inside his car by Turkmen gunmen affiliated with the de facto authority while on his way to collect bread for his village.

2. 3 May 2025 — The Kafrnan Massacre

The killing of four farmers from the Alawite and Murshidi communities while working in their agricultural fields:
• Safa Khader Abbas (65)
• Nashmiyyeh Ibrahim Eid (60)
• Nazmiyyeh Suweid (47)
• Numeir al-Mustafa (45) — the brother of today’s victim

3. 12 January 2025

The killing of another civilian from Kafrnan by militants belonging to the de facto authority.

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🟥 Connection to Previous Targeted Killings

The victim, Zahed Mustafa, belongs to the Al-Mallash Murshidi family — the same family that lost its son Numeir al-Mustafa in the May massacre.

The clear pattern linking these incidents — despite their close temporal proximity — indicates an ongoing, systematic campaign targeting civilians on the basis of their religious identity in Northern Homs countryside.

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🟥 A Clear and Consistent Pattern of Targeting

Available evidence shows that the area is subjected to a deliberate policy aimed at pressuring and displacing residents through:
• Direct killings based on religious identity
• Forced displacement
• Starvation tactics, including preventing villagers from accessing their farmland
• Continuous intimidation, including kidnappings and ongoing threats

All of this takes place within an environment enabled — and often directly facilitated — by the de facto authority’s terrorist apparatus, whose complicity, involvement, and active participation in these crimes is increasingly evident.

During a brutal sectarian attack on Alawite and Christian neighborhoods in Homs governorate, Emmanuel Baptist Church in the Armenian district was violently assaulted by a group of takfiri extremists, accompanied by their female associates, in full view of the terrorist de facto authorities.

According to field reports:
• On Monday morning, the assailants, along with their female accomplices, stormed the church building in a brutal and sectarian manner.
• They broke the church center’s main door and ascended to the first floor, where they forcibly removed external doors and interior room doors.
• The Holy Bible was torn apart, and the attackers seized and occupied the building by force, claiming it as their property.

These assaults are part of a systematic sectarian escalation targeting the Christian community in Syria and constitute a serious violation of principles protecting religious sites and civilian rights.

📍 Location: Al-Sayyada Village – Salamiyah Countryside, Hama Governorate
📅 Date: Monday, 1 December 2025

Members of the de facto authorities carried out a bombing targeting the shrine of Sheikh Faraj Abu Hiyya in the village of Al-Sayyada, in an attack with a clear sectarian character aimed at erasing the religious and symbolic heritage of the local community.

This bombing constitutes a serious violation of the protection of spiritual sites and places of worship, and comes within an escalating pattern of systematic assaults on the religious symbols of Syria’s diverse social components.