Syrian intelligence says it has foiled an ISIL attempt to blow up a Shia shrine ISIL/ISIS news

The shrine of Sayyida Zeinab in Damascus has previously been targeted by ISIL and other armed groups in Syria.

Syrian authorities have foiled an attempt by ISIL (ISIS) militants to blow up a Shia shrine in the Damascus suburbs, SANA news agency reported.

The intelligence and security unit “succeeded in preventing ISIL’s attempt to bomb the shrine of Sayyida Zeinab”, a source inside the Syrian intelligence agency told SANA on Saturday, adding that many people have been arrested.

“The General Intelligence Directorate is using all its resources to deal with all attempts to target the Syrian people for their diversity,” an intelligence official told SANA.

The Ministry of Interior has posted pictures of four men it says are members of an ISIL cell who were arrested in the countryside outside the capital.

It also published pictures of equipment allegedly seized from the suspects, including smartphones, two guns, three explosives and several hand grenades.

The photos showed two Lebanese nationals and Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon.

“The temple they were trying to target is on the southern outskirts of Damascus,” Al Jazeera’s Hamza Mohamed said, reporting from Damascus.

“It is an important religious site for Shia Muslims. They believe that the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad is buried [there].”

Mohamed noted that this is not the first time that this holy place has been targeted.

“In 2008, there was a car bomb… [in which] 17 people were killed,” he said.

ISIL has also targeted the Damascus holy site, the most visited Shia pilgrimage site in Syria, claiming responsibility for a twin suicide attack in February 2016 near the mausoleum that killed 134 people.

The group also claimed three explosions near the shrine in the past few weeks that killed at least 70 people.

The July 2023 bombing killed at least six people near the mausoleum.

Shia places of worship have been the target of attacks by Sunni groups such as ISIL in neighboring Syria and Iraq.

Iran-backed guards used to be stationed at the gates of the Sayyida Zeinab mausoleum, but fled last month, just before Sunni-led rebels stormed the Syrian capital and ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

The Iranian-backed fighters have been al-Assad’s main supporters since the war broke out in 2011.