Initial Summary

Location of Incident: Sheikh al-Ajami Shrine in al-Fan al-Wastani village, Hama countryside
Date: 9 January 2025
Time: Between 16:00 and 16:20 Damascus local time
Victims: None
Type of Incident: Bombing
Weapon Used: Unidentified
Potential Perpetrator: Syrian Archive was unable to identify the persons who appeared in the video of the bombing or who may be responsible.

Introduction

On 9 January 2025, the shrine of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi, an Alawite shrine in the village of Fan al-Wustani, was bombed, as shown in a video posted online, by two people on a motorcycle, allegedly from the neighboring village of Fan al-Qibli.

A screenshot from Google Earth Pro showing the proximity of the villages of Fan al-Wustani and Fan al-Qibli, with an orange circle added by Syrian Archive to indicate the location of the shrine of Sheikh al-Ajmi at coordinates 35.287492, 36.909033. Captured by Syrian Archive on 27 October 2025.

About the Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi shrine

The predominantly Alawite village of Fan al-Wustani is located in the northeastern part of Hama Governorate and is administratively affiliated with the Hama city district. In 2004, it had a population of 847, most of whom worked in agriculture. To the west of the village, on a hill about 400 meters from the village center, lies the shrine of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi, one of the shrines belonging to the Alawite sect in the region.

Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi’s full name is Muhammad ibn al-Khalil al-Halabi, according to the Tarajm website He was a distinguished imam born in 901 AH (1465 AD) who died in 971 AH (1563 AD), and moved between Damascus and Aleppo.

Left: A picture available on Google Maps of the shrine of Muhammad al-Ajmi in the village of Fan al-Wustani; Right: a picture from the Facebook page of “Durar al-Imam Ali, peace be upon him” of the same shrine. Captured by Syrian Archive on 27 October 2025.

A screenshot from Google Earth Pro shows the distance between the shrine of Sheikh al-Ajmi at coordinates 35.287492, 36.909033 and the center of the village of Fan al-Wustani. captured by Syrian Archive on 18 November 2025.

In addition to the shrine of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi in the village of Fan al-Wustani, Syrian Archive identified 23 other shrines with the same name, distributed across the provinces of Hama and Tartus (eight shrines in each) and Latakia and Homs (four shrines in each).

An infographic created by Syrian Archive shows the distribution of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi shrines by province.

Within a radius of approximately 21.3 kilometers in the Hama Governorate, two other shrines in addition to the one in Fan al-Wustani shrines with the name of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi were attacked between 31 December 2024 and 28 February 2025.

A screenshot from Google Earth Pro showing the distance between the three shrines with the name of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi that were attacked. Captured by Syrian Archive on 1 November 2025.

The first of these attacks took place on 31 December 2024, when the shrine of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi in the village of al-Safsafiya was reportedly set on fire.

On 28 February 2025, the shrine of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi in the village of Tal Sakin was reportedly vandalized and destroyed.

What happened and when?

Social media accounts claim that the shrine of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi in the village of Fan al-Wustani was deliberately damaged by a blast on 9 January 2025.

The first publicly available report online of the incident was from the Syrian Coast 24 channel on Telegram, which reported at 20:35 Syrian local time on 9 January 2025, that the shrine of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi in Fan al-Wustani had been blown up.

Screenshot from Al-Sahel 24 channel of the news of the bombing of the shrine, captured by Syrian Archive on 20 July 2025.

About an hour and a half later, at 22:00 local time, the SYR Doc channel on Telegram posted a video of two people on a motorcycle allegedly near the shrine of Sheikh al-Ajmi, claiming they blew up the shrine. The video shows two men approach the shrine and a blast occurring sometime later.

Reports followed, with accounts such as Thiqa News Agency, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин, Memories and Events of Beloved Syria on Facebook, Idlib Online on X, and journalist Waheed Yazbek's channel on Telegram posting news accompanied by photos and videos of the incident.

To confirm details on the incident, the incident’s location was geolocated, the timing of the incident was estimated using shadows visible in relevant videos and comparing them with the position of the sun using the suncalc tool, the video was analyzed for any leading information on the perpetrators and the route of the individuals visible in the video showing the incident was traced and mapped.

Geolocation

Syrian Archive compared landmarks in the video claiming to show the bombing with an alleged image available on Google Maps of the Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi shrine and satellite imagery of the shrine’s location available on Google Earth Pro at the coordinates 35.287457, 36.908996.

Syrian Archive is unable to assess the damage to the shrine because of a lack of footage and satellite imagery of the shrine following the attack.

Top left: screenshot from the video posted on Facebook by Memories and Events of Beloved Syria; top right: A picture available on Google Maps; bottom: Satellite imagery available on Google Earth Pro at coordinates 35.287457, 36.908996. Annotations were added by Syrian Archive to indicate the landmarks used to match the video to the location of the Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi shrine.

Shadow analysis

The video, which claims to show the bombing of the Sheikh al-Ajmi shrine, shows a man standing next to a motorcycle a few seconds before a blast occurs on the shrine. The man's shadow is slanted and extends beyond the asphalt road.

A screenshot from a video posted by the Memories and Events in Beloved Syria Facebook page that shows a person's shadow seconds before the bombing of the shrine. Added by Syrian Archive, the orange box shows the person's height, and the yellow box shows the length of the shadow on the ground.

Syrian Archive determined the location of the camera and the angle of the shot by matching prominent landmarks visible in the video.

Above is a screenshot from a SYR Doc channel video on Telegram with annotations added by Syrian Archive to show the camera angle. Below is a screenshot from Google Earth Pro at coordinates 35.287714, 36.908726 with annotations added by Syrian Archive to demonstrate the camera angle. Captured by Syrian Archive on 25 October 2025.

Using the suncalc tool, at the estimated location where the individual was standing (35.287650, 36.908726) on 9 January 2025, it is likely that the video was filmed between 16:00 and 16:20 local time.

Screenshot of the suncalc tool at coordinates 35.287650, 36.908726, showing the length of the shadow at 16:00 Captured by Syrian Archive on 30 October 2025.

Screenshot of the suncalc tool, at coordinates 35.287650, 36.908726, showing the shadow length at 16:20. Captured by Syrian Archive on 30 October 2025.

Video analysis

Timeline and routes of the perpetrators

Screenshot from Google Earth Pro, with annotations added by Syrian Archive, to indicate the route of the individuals shown in the video. The orange path,with points numbered one to four shows the path of the two people in the video before the blast. The red path, with points numbered from five to seven, indicates the path of the two people leaving the location. Captured by Syrian Archive on 29 October 2025.

A video posted on the SYR Doc channel on Telegram shows, between seconds 0:01 and 0:26, two people wearing traditional clothing (jellabia) and head coverings (jamadana) moving between locations 1 and 2, one riding a motorcycle while the other runs behind him.
Between seconds 0:27 and 0:38, the motorcyclist dismounts and walks up the stairs leading to the shrine and the door of the shrine, locations 3 and 4. The other man who was previously running behind the motorcyclist gets on the motorcycle and heads towards the exit.
In the video, the man spends about 12 seconds at location 4, between seconds 0:38 and 0:50 of the video. He then runs from location 4 to locations 5 and 6, asking the first man to go (leave) at second 0:56, then getting on behind him and heading towards location 7.
The video stops for one second and cuts to a second clip 01:00.

Screenshots from a video by SYR Doc on Telegram, markers annotated by Syrian Archive to indicate the size of the smoke and the spread of rubble after the blast on a photo taken on 29 October 2025. Captured by Syrian Archive on 29 October 2025.

At 1:01, the blast is shown, the video shakes, thick smoke appears for two seconds, and then debris is shown flying from the shrine.

Screenshots from a video from SYR Doc showing the clip before and after the blast at the shrine. Orange boxes were added by Syrian Archive on similar shadows that suggest little time had passed between the clips. Captured by Syrian Archive on 18 November 2025.

Shadows in the first and second clips suggest very little time passed between the individuals leaving the shrine on the motorcycle and the blast shown at 1:01.

The approximate landing site of falling debris is about 31.5 meters from the site of the blast at location four.

Screenshot from a video by SYR Doc on Telegram with annotations added by Syrian Archive to note the landing site of debris appearing after the explosion. Captured by Syrian Archive on 29 October 2025.

A screenshot from Google Earth Pro showing the approximate distance of the flying debris after the explosion. Captured by Syrian Archive on 25 October 2025.

At minute 1:48 a man is shown picking up the camera recording the incident. This man is shown wearing the same head covering as the men shown earlier in the video.

A still from a video uploaded by SYR Doc that shows an individual picking up the camera that recorded the incident.

Potential perpetrators

Twenty-one minutes after Al-Sahel 24 channel published the news of the bombing of Sheikh al-Ajmi's shrine, the same channel accused Abdul Rahil Sayel al-Salloum and Ahmad Ali al-Salloum of committing the bombing.

Screenshot from the Syrian Sahel channel on Telegram reporting that two people were responsible for the bombing of the shrine Captured by Syrian Archive on 20 September 2025.

The SYR Doc channel on Telegram claimed that Abdulrahil Sayel al-Salloum and Ahmad Ali al-Salloum were responsible for the bombing, alleging that they were residents of the village of Fan al-Qibli and members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

In the post, the SYR Doc channel on Telegram reported that Abdulrahil Sayel al-Salloum posted a video of the bombing on his personal Facebook page via the Stories feature. Syrian Archive was unable to find the original posting of this video.

Syrian Archive searched for the named individuals and found no information, including any information confirming their filming of the attack, their responsibility for the bombing, or their affiliation with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

A photo posted by SYR Doc claiming to show Abdulrahil Sayel al-Salloum, accusing him of being responsible for the bombing while on his way to pick up the camera that recorded the bombing. Captured by Syrian Archive on 30 October 2025.

The Thiqa News Agency, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин , Marouane Essedrati, and Nidal Hamada Facebook pages and Dr.Z.M on the X, all named Abdul Rahil al-Salloum and Ahmad Ali al-Salloum as responsible for the attack.

Sprinter Press News and Idlib Online on X, the Memories and Events of Beloved Syria Facebook page, journalist Waheed Yazbek on Telegram, and user moh.abdulla2022 on Instagram claimed that members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham were responsible for the attack.

In the comments on the video posted by the Memories and Events of Beloved Syria Facebook page, users blamed the attack on individuals allegedly affiliated with the Assad government. They questioned the magnitude of the explosion, which they described as massive, claiming that it would have required explosives such as TNT or stronger.

Similarly, another individual commented on Dr.Z.M's post on X, claiming that he is from the area and that there are no people with these names, referring to the names of the two individuals Abdulrahil Sayel al-Salloum and Ahmad Ali al-Salloum in the village of Fan Switani.

Conclusion

The shrine of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi, one of the shrines belonging to the Alawite sect, was likely bombed around 16:00 local time on 9 January 2025. Syrian Archive was unable to identify the persons who appeared in the video of the bombing or who may be responsible.

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Bombing of Sheikh Muhammad al-Ajmi Shrine in the Fan al-Wustani village in the Hama countryside

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INVESTIGATIONS