- Blast caused by crudely manufactured IED: Damascus governor.
- No group has claimed responsibility for the Damascus cafe bombing.
- Attacks pose another security challenge for Sharaa’s government.
A bomb blast at a crowded cafe in central Damascus killed at least six people and wounded 22 others on Thursday, Syrian state media reported. There was no immediate responsibility.
Syrian state television said an explosive device had been planted at the cafe, near the Justice Palace in the center of the capital.
Damascus Governor Maher Idlibi said the explosion was caused by a crude improvised explosive device, according to Syrian state media.
Videos circulating on social media showed injured people and blood on the floors of a cafe, allegedly the site of the blast. Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.
The attack poses yet another security challenge to the Syrian government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took control after toppling former President Bashar al-Assad in late 2024. Assad’s ouster effectively ended more than 14 years of civil war.
Damascus has seen a handful of security incidents since then, including a car bomb that killed a Syrian soldier and wounded at least 18 people outside the defense ministry in May.
Although no group claimed responsibility for Thursday’s blast, Daesh has sought to exploit the security vacuum created by Assad’s ouster by reactivating sleeper cells, recruiting fighters and moving weapons as the new government expands its authority across the country, security officials had said.
The militant group announced earlier this year what it described as a new phase of operations against Sharaa’s government.
The group is far weaker than when it controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq before the collapse of its self-proclaimed caliphate in 2019.
However, it is still capable of carrying out deadly insurgent-style attacks and is viewed by Syrian, Iraqi and Western officials as one of the biggest threats to Syria’s transition.
Sharaa’s other opponents include Assad-era officers and soldiers. In 2025, Syria was rocked by fighting between the new government forces and rebels from Syria’s Alawite minority, and separately between government forces and Druze gunmen.
