The Syrian flag is flown at half-mast in Damascus on May 20, 2024, after the country announced three days of national mourning following the death of Iran's President alongside his foreign minister and others in a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan border. (Credit: Louai Beshara/AFP)
A car explosion killed one person in Damascus on Saturday, the official Syrian news agency SANA reported, without identifying the victim.
Security incidents, including blasts targeting military and civilian vehicles, occur intermittently in the capital of war-ravaged Syria.
Quoting a police official, SANA said "one person was killed when an explosive device exploded in their car in the Mazzeh district." It did not provide any other details.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor with a network of sources on the ground, said three vehicles caught fire in the area.
The explosion comes against a backdrop of heightened regional tensions, including the war between Israel and the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Last month, an explosive device went off in a car in Mazzeh, an upscale neighborhood of Damascus, without causing any casualties, SANA reported at the time.
Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes in Syria since the civil war broke out in 2011, targeting Iran-backed forces including Lebanon's Hezbollah movement as well as Syrian army positions.
Security incidents, including blasts targeting military and civilian vehicles, occur intermittently in the capital of war-ravaged Syria.
Quoting a police official, SANA said "one person was...