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Syrian Intelligence Agency Thwarted Planned Islamic State Attack on Shiite Shrine
Lebanon's Najib Mikati (L) shaking hands with Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus. (Photo SANA via AFP)
Intelligence officials in Syria’s new de facto government thwarted a plan by the Islamic State group to set off a bomb at a Shiite shrine in the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab.
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 has been the site of past attacks on Shiite pilgrims by ISIS.
Per CIA, Syria has a population of nearly 24 million people: Arab ~50%, Alawite ~15%, Kurd ~10%, Levantine ~10%, other ~15% (includes Druze, Ismaili, Imami, Nusairi, Assyrian, Turkoman, Armenian)
The new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa seems pragmatic and if the governments of Turkiye, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq, and Jordan cooperate, Syria won't become a failed state. Approximately 2,000 US troops are operating in Syria, even though US Central Command have consistently reported having only 900 troops there.
US soldiers inspect the site of reported Turkish shelling days on an oil extraction facility on the outskirts of Rumaylan, in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeastern Hasakeh province on 28 Oct 2024. (Photo: Delil Souleiman / AFP / Getty Images)
Sources:
https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5100156-syrian-intelligence-says-it-foiled-isis-attempt-target-damascus-shrine
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/11/lebanons-pm-meets-syrias-de-facto-leader-in-damascus