
Syrian intelligence officials in the country’s new de facto government have successfully foiled a plan by the Islamic State (ISIS) group to detonate a bomb at a Shiite shrine in Sayyida Zeinab, a suburb of Damascus, The Associated Press reported on Saturday, citing Syrian state media.
Syria’s state news agency SANA, citing an unnamed official from the General Intelligence Service, revealed that members of the ISIS cell responsible for the planned attack had been arrested.
The official stated that the intelligence service is “putting all its capabilities to stand in the face of all attempts to target the Syrian people in all their spectrums.”
Sayyida Zeinab, a key site for Shiite pilgrims, has previously been targeted by ISIS, which follows a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam and regards Shiites as infidels.
In 2016, at least 45 people were murdered and 110 wounded in three bomb blasts in the area, in an attack claimed by ISIS.
In 2023, an explosion from a motorcycle laden with explosives killed at least six people and injured dozens in the area, just a day before the Shiite holy day of Ashoura.
ISIS overran large swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" in land it controlled.
Several military offensives, including ones backed by a US-led international coalition, have since seen ISIS lose most areas it once controlled, including the loss of their de facto capital in Raqqa, Syria.
However, ISIS sleeper cells remain in the area and continue to carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq.
The announcement of the foiled attack appears to be part of efforts by Syria’s new leadership to reassure religious minorities, including groups that had historically supported the former government of Bashar Al-Assad.
The new ruling party, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Sunni Islamist group that led the offensive that toppled Assad last month, has sought to project a message of coexistence.
HTS was formerly linked to Al-Qaeda, but has since distanced itself from the group. Its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is now the de facto leader of Syria, has emphasized religious harmony since taking power in Damascus.
Sharaa was in the past critical of ISIS, describing its self-proclaimed caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq as "illegitimate".