On Friday, ISIS claimed responsibility for an explosive device attack that targeted, Thursday, the Sayyidah Zeinab area in southern Damascus, one of the main Shiite pilgrimage sites in Syria.
At least six people were killed and more than 20 others were wounded, on Thursday evening, when an explosive device exploded near the Shiite shrine, according to the Syrian authorities.
The extremist group said in a statement broadcast on the Telegram application, on Friday evening, that its fighters “succeeded in breaching the security restrictions” in the area and “were able to park and detonate a booby-trapped motorcycle,” Thursday, “on a gathering of Shiite pilgrims.”
In recent days, the Syrian authorities have tightened security measures in the Sayeda Zeinab area on the eve of Ashura, one of the most important religious events for Shiite Muslims.
And ISIS announced that “another bombing” carried out by its fighters, last Tuesday, “in the same way, targeted a bus transporting Shiite pilgrims near the same area, and led to at least two injuries and the destruction of the bus.”
With its mosque made of turquoise ceramics and golden dome in the Iranian style, the shrine of Sayyidah Zainab is an important site of pilgrimage for Shiite Muslims. Since the outbreak of the war in Syria in 2011, the shrine has been defended by members of Shiite militias, especially Lebanese and Iraqis, alongside the Syrian forces.
In February 2016, a double suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State group 400 meters from the shrine killed 134 people, including more than 90 civilians.
A few weeks earlier, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a triple blast near the site, which killed at least 70 people.
After a rapid expansion, in 2014, in Syria and Iraq, ISIS saw the areas on which it declared its “caliphate” sway under the weight of successive military operations launched in these two countries with the support of the international coalition against extremists.
The organization’s defeat in Syria was announced in 2019, but the coalition remained to fight the extremist cells that are still active in the country.
The conflict in Syria has claimed the lives of more than half a million people, since 2011, and caused widespread damage to infrastructure and displaced millions of Syrians.
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2023-07-28 21:22:24
