Syrian Authorities Foil ISIL Attack on Shia Shrine in Damascus Suburb
Syrian authorities have thwarted an attempt by ISIL (ISIS) fighters to blow up a revered Shia shrine in a Damascus suburb, according to the state news agency SANA. Intelligence and security forces “successfully foiled an attempt by ISIL to carry out a bombing at the Sayyida Zeinab shrine”, a source within Syria’s intelligence agency told SANA on Saturday, adding that several individuals have been arrested.
“The General Intelligence Directorate is using all its resources to counter any attempts to target the Syrian people in all their diversity,” the intelligence official told SANA. The interior ministry published photographs of four men, said to be members of an ISIL cell, who had been arrested in the countryside outside the capital. It also released images of equipment allegedly seized from the suspects, including smartphones, two rifles, three explosive devices, and several hand grenades. The photos showed the identification papers of two Lebanese nationals and a Palestinian refugee residing in Lebanon.
The shrine they had intended to target is located on the southern outskirts of Damascus, as reported by Al Jazeera’s Hamza Mohamed from the Syrian capital. “It’s a significant religious site for Shia Muslims. They believe the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad is buried there,” Mohamed explained. He also noted that this is not the first time the shrine has been targeted. “In 2008, there was a car bomb… [which] killed 17 people,” he said. ISIL had also previously attacked the Damascus shrine, which is Syria’s most visited Shia pilgrimage site, claiming responsibility for a double suicide bombing in February 2016 near the mausoleum that killed 134 people. The group also claimed a triple blast near the sanctuary several weeks earlier, resulting in at least 70 deaths. A bombing in July 2023 killed at least six people near the mausoleum.
Shia shrines have long been frequent targets for attacks by Sunni groups such as ISIL, both in Syria and neighbouring Iraq. Iran-backed guards were once deployed at the gates of the Sayyida Zeinab mausoleum but fled last month, shortly before Sunni-led rebels captured parts of the Syrian capital and toppled President Bashar al-Assad. Iran-backed fighters have been key supporters of al-Assad since the outbreak of the war in 2011.
