By Firas Makdesi
Aug 6 (Reuters) – A bomb planted in a minibus killed two people and wounded 14 others on the outskirts of Syria’s capital Damascus on Thursday night, officials said.
The blast occurred in the predominantly Druze area of Jaramana outside Damascus. A security source told the state-run Ekhbariya TV that the blast was caused by an explosive device planted on the vehicle, citing preliminary information.
Factions within Syria’s Druze community have clashed with the country’s new Islamist leadership. A U.N. investigation in March found more than 1,700 people, most of them civilian members of the Druze religious sect and some members of the Bedouin community, were killed in the southern Sweida province in July 2025.
It said Syrian government forces, tribal fighters and Druze armed groups may have committed war crimes.
Footage from the scene showed the blown-up husk of a white minibus being dragged away from the site of the blast.
Jaramana resident Samer Abbas was metres away in his clothing store when the explosion went off. A piece of shrapnel hit the storefront.
“It was a strong unnatural sound,” he told Reuters in an interview.
His son, who had been sitting outside, was the first thing that came to Abbas’ mind. Fearing the worst, Abbas said he could not rest until he confirmed his son was safe.
“My blood dried up until I checked up on him, I saw him … until I heard his voice,” he said.
(Reporting by Ahmed Tolba, Enas Alashray and Kinda Makieh; Writing by Nazih Osseiran; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Nia Williams and Sanjeev Miglani)
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