A bomb attack has caused casualties among Syria's security forces on a bus near Damascus, in the latest violence to hit the country since the ouster of Bashar Al Assad 18 months ago.
Official media quoted a security official as saying the bomb attack occurred on Saturday aboard a bus carrying members of the Internal Security Forces on a road near the city of Al Tal, just north of Damascus. Last month, security personnel fired in the air and detained two dozen people to quell protests in the area.
The unrest broke out over allegations that officials were allowing a landowner with connections to the authorities to dig a well and giving him preferential treatment, amid water shortages in the capital and surrounding areas.
The authorities were following up on the circumstances of the bomb attack, the official said, without elaborating. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan condemned the attack, describing it as terrorism.
On August 6, a bomb exploded in a taxi van in the mixed Jaramana suburb of Damascus, reportedly killing two people. An investigation has been opened, but no official findings have been announced.
Since the toppling of the former regime, attacks on Syrian security forces have largely focused on eastern desert areas where mobile ISIS formations operate. The group was largely defeated in Syria after a US-led campaign from 2014 to 2019.
In November last year, the US admitted Syria to its anti-ISIS coalition, marking a landmark development in the rapid improvement of ties since militants led by now-President Ahmad Al Shara deposed the former regime in December 2024. Turkey, a main backer of the current government, played a major role in Assad's demise.
Regional security sources say ISIS may have moved its operations closer to Syrian urban areas from the eastern Badia region since Assad's ousting. On August 8, the government said its forces killed two ISIS members who had attempted to target the Damascus suburb of Saida Zeinab with a bomb. The two men were masked and were monitoring roads leading to civilian and military installations in the area, the interior ministry said.
The US and other powers have been cooperating with the new authorities on stabilising the country. However, major security and political issues remain unresolved, particularly revenge attacks against those who collaborated with the former regime, and the future of ethnic and religious minorities in the east and south of the country after government military campaigns in the two areas.
In the south, Israel has been mounting incursions into Syrian territory after setting up a de facto security zone last year, adjacent to the occupied Golan Heights, beyond a demilitarised area stipulated in a 1974 deal.
On Saturday, Israeli forces attacked a car in the nearby town of Beit Jinn. The authorities said it was a civilian vehicle and that the attack wounded several people. The Israeli military said the target was a terrorist who was in the "final stages" of preparing attacks.
A Washington drive to forge peace between Syria and Israel has stalled, while relations between Turkey and Israel have deteriorated in the last three years over Palestine, Lebanon, and Israel's intervention in Syria.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani expected negotiations with Israel over security to resume soon, he told Reuters in an interview on Sunday.
