Syria intelligence says thwarted Daesh attempt to bomb Shiite shrine

DAMASCUS — Syrian authorities foiled an attempt by the Daesh terror group extremists to blow up a revered Shiite shrine in a Damascus suburb, a source within Syria's intelligence agency told state news agency SANA Saturday.

Intelligence and security forces "succeeded in thwarting an attempt by Daesh to carry out a bombing inside the Sayyida Zaynab shrine", the source said.

The interior ministry posted pictures of four men it identified as members of Daesh cell, arrested in the countryside outside the capital.

It published images of equipment allegedly seized from the suspects, including smartphones, two rifles, what appeared to be three explosive devices and several hand grenades.

The photos showed the identity papers of two Lebanese and a Palestinian refugee living in Lebanon.

Iran-backed guards used to be deployed at the gates of the Sayyeda Zeinab mausoleum, Syria's most visited Shiite pilgrimage site.

But they fled shortly before Sunni Islamist-led rebels last month swept into the Syrian capital, toppling president Bashar al-Assad.

Iran-backed fighters had been key supporters of Assad since the civil war broke out in 2011.

Shiite shrines are a frequent target of attacks by Sunni extremists of the Daesh group, both in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

Daesh previously targeted the Damascus shrine, claiming a July 2023 bombing that killed at least six people near the mausoleum.

It was the first time the new Damascus authorities said they had foiled an Daesh attack.

Daesh seized large swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in the early years of the civil war, declaring a cross-border "caliphate" in 2014.

US-backed Syria Kurdish forces defeated that proto-state in 2019, but the jihadists have maintained a presence in the Syria's vast desert.