DAMASCUS — Intelligence officers in Syria’s new de facto authorities thwarted a plan by the Islamic State group to set off a bomb at a Shiite shrine within the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, state media reported Saturday.
State information company SANA reported, citing an unnamed official within the Basic Intelligence Service, that members of the IS cell planning the assault have been arrested. It quoted the official as saying that the intelligence service is “placing all its capabilities to face within the face of all makes an attempt to focus on the Syrian folks in all their spectrums.”
Sayyida Zeinab has been the positioning of previous assaults on Shiite pilgrims by IS — which takes an excessive interpretation of Sunni Islam and considers Shiites to be infidels.
In 2023, a bike planted with explosives detonated in Sayyida Zeinab, killing a minimum of six folks and wounding dozens a day earlier than the Shiite holy day of Ashoura,
The announcement that the assault had been thwarted gave the impression to be one other try by the nation’s new leaders to reassure non secular minorities, together with these seen as having been supporters of the previous authorities of Bashar Assad.
Assad, a member of the Alawite minority, was allied with Iran and with the Shiite Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah in addition to Iranian-backed Iraqi militias.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the previous rebel group that led the lightning offensive that toppled Assad final month and is now the de facto ruling occasion within the nation, is a Sunni Islamist group that previously had ties with al-Qaida.
The group later cut up from al-Qaida, and HTS chief Ahmad al-Sharaa has preached non secular coexistence since assuming energy in Damascus.
Guests continued to enter the shrine Saturday underneath strict safety measures.
“The positioning is open, and guests are making their visits safely and with peace of thoughts,” mentioned Moataz Sikkawi, safety supervisor on the web site.
