Officials believe that an explosive was detonated inside the building, Sana reports, citing a security source. While authorities are still searching for the perpetrators, jihadist group Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah has claimed responsibility.
The mosque is in the Wadi al-Dhahab neighbourhood, where most people are part of the Alawite ethnoreligious group.
Syria's Foreign Ministry condemned the "terrorist crime", writing in a statement on X that the "cowardly act is a blatant assault on human and moral values" designed to "undermine the security and stability" of the country.
Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah, a Sunni extremist group, has said it carried out the attack in collaboration with another unidentified group, using explosives planted at the site.
The group's vague origins and opaque affiliations, which came to prominence in June when it claimed responsibility for a deadly church bombing in Damascus, have raised questions about its true links and authenticity.
Some observers have speculated that it could be a front for Islamic State group (IS) given the similarity in their messaging and type of targets.
The blast comes a year after Syrian rebel forces overthrew Assad, who is Alawite. The sect is an offshoot of Shia Islam whose members make up one of the country's biggest religious minorities.
Since then, Syria has seen several waves of sectarian violence, with Alawites fearing reprisals and being subject to crackdowns. Assad fled to Russia, an ally of his regime, where he and his family have been given asylum.
In March, security forces were accused of killing dozens of Alawites in the coastal province of Latakia, war monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.
A bombing at a mosque located in the Syrian city of Homs during Friday prayers killed at least eight people and wounded 18 others, authorities said.
SANA, citing a security source, said that preliminary investigations indicate that explosive devices were planted inside the mosque. Authorities were searching for the perpetrators of the attack. A security cordon was placed around the mosque, Syria’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Tensions have flared across several parts of Syria in recent weeks as long-running sectarian, ethnic and political fault lines continue to destabilize the country, even as large-scale fighting has subsided.
The country has experienced several waves of sectarian clashes since the fall of President Bashar Assad last year. Assad, himself an Alawite, fled the country to Russia. Members of his sect have been subjected to crackdowns.
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.
Local officials condemned Friday's attack, saying it came “within the context of repeated desperate attempts to undermine security and stability and sow chaos among the Syrian people.”
“Syria reiterates its firm stance in combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added in a statement.
“Remnants of the former regime, ISIS militants and collaborators have converged on a single goal: obstructing the path of the new state by undermining stability, threatening civil peace, and eroding the shared coexistence and common destiny of Syrians throughout history,” the Syrian information minister said in a post on X.
Neighboring countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon, also condemned the attack. In a statement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reaffirmed “Lebanon’s support for Syria in its fight against terrorism.”
On Monday, clashes have erupted intermittently between Syrian government forces and Kurdish-led fighters, the Syrian Democratic Forces, in mixed neighborhoods in the northern city of Aleppo, forcing temporary closures of schools and public institutions and prompting civilians to shelter indoors. A late-evening ceasefire was then announced by both sides amid ongoing de-escalation efforts.