DAMASCUS (The Thursday Times) — A bomb planted in a car exploded in Jaramana, a mainly Druze suburb south-east of Damascus, on Saturday evening, killing a man and a young girl and wounding at least one other person, Syrian state media said.
The blast happened near a factory that makes batteries, according to state television. The state news agency SANA said the device had been placed inside the car, and Civil Defence teams were sent to the scene.
Syria’s Internal Security Forces said in a statement on Telegram that their units had cordoned off the site and opened an investigation into the circumstances of the explosion. Officials did not say who they believed was behind it, and no group had claimed responsibility by Saturday night.
Early figures differed. State television first said two people had been wounded, while SANA and the Interior Ministry put the number at one.
Jaramana has been hit before. In August, a bomb went off inside a minibus in the suburb, killing two people and wounding 13. Residents took to the streets afterwards to reject what they called attempts to stir up sectarian strife between the town’s communities.
The suburb is home to a large Druze community and has seen tension between some of its residents and Sunni Syrians who support the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, which took power after Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December 2024. Fighting in Jaramana and nearby Ashrafiyat Sahnaya in the spring of 2025 left dozens of people dead before local elders and the authorities agreed on security arrangements for the area.
Several explosions have hit Damascus and its suburbs in recent months as the new authorities struggle to secure the country nearly two years after Assad’s fall. Islamic State terrorist cells remain active, and the government also faces armed networks linked to the former regime.
Al-Sharaa has been seeking to rebuild Syria’s ties abroad, and joined world leaders at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya this week.
