Syria Arms Depot Blast Kills 14 in Idlib
Syria Arms Depot Blast Kills 14 in Idlib
The News
At least 14 people were killed and 11 wounded Wednesday when a site storing weapons and war remnants exploded near the city of Sarmada in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, Syrian authorities said.
Syria's Defense Ministry said the weapons and leftover munitions were being held at the site temporarily before being moved elsewhere, and that some of its own personnel were among the wounded.
Authorities have not said what caused the blast.
The Numbers
"The toll from the explosion in a temporary storage for collecting weapons and war remnants near the city of Sarmada ... registered 14 killed and 11 injured in a preliminary count," the Idlib health department said, per Deutsche Welle.
Timeline
Five people are killed and others wounded when a vehicle carrying ammunition explodes in Binnish, also in Idlib province.
A warehouse holding weapons and munitions left over from Syria's uprising and civil war blows up near Sarmada. Video circulated after the blast showed a large plume of black smoke, with smaller explosions audible.
The first accounts, including The Independent's, put the death toll at at least four. Syrian state television later reported at least 14 dead, citing officials.
Secondary explosions and fires in an area full of volatile materials hamper the emergency response. Smoke billows from the site for some time. Civil Defense and Syrian Red Crescent responders search for survivors under the rubble; an Associated Press photographer at the scene saw bodies being recovered.
Reactions
The Defense Ministry, cited by state news agency SANA, said the warehouse held weapons and munitions left over from the country's uprising and civil war from 2011 until 2024, and gave no further detail, according to The Associated Press.
The Idlib health department released the casualty count as a preliminary figure, leaving open the possibility it rises.
Al Jazeera and Reuters both attributed the initial death toll to Syrian state TV.
What's Next
Search-and-rescue work was continuing Wednesday, and the toll is preliminary — officials have signaled it could change as bodies are recovered.
No cause has been determined and no investigation findings have been announced.
More
It was the second fatal incident of its kind in Idlib province this month, after the Sept. 1 ammunition blast in Binnish.
Syria only recently emerged from more than a decade of civil war, after forces loyal to new President Ahmed al-Sharaa ousted Bashar Assad and took control of Damascus. Idlib was one of the hardest-hit regions in the country during the fighting.
Poll
Who should be responsible for clearing Syria's leftover war munitions?
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