Syrian state television said a bomb planted on a bus carrying Syrian troops in Damascus exploded, killing one soldier.
Eleven other soldiers were injured in a bomb explosion that occurred Tuesday morning (15/2) morning at a customs roundabout near Omayyad Square, a landmark of the capital. There are no other details about the explosion.
Such explosions have been frequent in Damascus in recent months, although the capital area has actually been in a state of calm since government forces seized in 2018 a residential area in the east of the city that was previously held by rebel forces.
With the help of President Bashar Al Assad’s allies – namely Russia and Iran – government forces now control large parts of Syria. Meanwhile, rebel groups are mostly cornered in the province of Idlib, in northwestern Syria. Meanwhile, US and Turkish troops have been deployed to parts of the north and east of the country.
Two bombs planted on buses carrying Syrian troops in Damascus also exploded in October 2021, killing 14 people – the most fatal explosions in the capital in recent years. A group calling itself the Qasioun Brigades claimed responsibility for the incident.
The conflict in Syria that began in March 2011 has killed nearly half a million people, forced half of the population – which before the war numbered 23 million – to flee, and left large parts of the country in ruins. [em/rd]