Security in Syria: Explosion in a suburb of Damascus

The civil defense team uses flashlights to examine the former car, which is now just a heap of melted pieces of metal and burned-out cables. An explosive device was detonated in the car on Saturday evening. According to the Syrian Interior Ministry, a 35-year-old father and his child were killed and the mother was injured. The explosion happened in Jaramana, a suburb of the capital Damascus, near a battery factory, state broadcaster Syria TV reported. Security forces have cordoned off the area and promised to launch an investigation.

Jaramana is located around four kilometers southeast of the center of Damascus. The suburb is also a transport hub between the airport access road and the city center. The small bomb planted in the car is said to have exploded near this street.

It is still unclear who is responsible for the attack. The government said the incident was another attack by the Islamist group Daesh, known by its proper name “Islamic State” (IS). There have been several explosions in Damascus and its suburbs in recent months. On August 6, an explosive device exploded in Jaramana, in a passenger minibus on the main road. 14 people were injured.

Christians and a large Druze community live in the city. The suburb has seen conflict in the past between parts of the Druze community and Sunni Muslims who support the current government in Damascus. The Druze leaders want autonomy over their area and weapons; the interim government has tried to take the area by force in the past.

Violent conflict erupted in early 2025 and deadly sectarian violence the following April and May over a disarmament agreement between Damascus and Druze leaders in Jaramana and southern Suwayda. In the summer of 2025 there were massacres in which parts of the government troops were also involved.

Tensions in Jaramana are said to have increased again in recent days. On Thursday, people in the city protested for the perpetrators of the Suweida massacres to be brought to justice, Al Jazeera reports. On Saturday night, security forces arrested a man who is said to have glorified symbols of the Assad regime.

Such incidents trigger not only speculation but also divisive, sectarian discussions in the fragile new Syria. A security expert told Syria TV that IS is not active in the Jaramana region. “Even if one wanted to make the most serious accusations against IS, all evidence points to drug traffickers and terrorist gangs that are present in Suwayda and the surrounding region.” He pushed the sectarian narrative that the Druze leader al-Hijri in Suweida was responsible for the “security gap.” And complained that Druze would immediately protest “if, for example, a column of special forces vehicles advances towards Jaramana.”

Al-Hijri previously supported the Assad regime and now the Israeli government. His troops control checkpoints on the access road to Suwayda.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) documented 604 civilians killed in Syria in the first nine months, including 50 in explosions whose perpetrators were not identified. SNHR demands that evidence at crime scenes be thoroughly secured, that all killings of civilians be effectively investigated and that the perpetrators be prosecuted - in accordance with the rule of law.