Car blast kills one in Syrian capital: state media

A screengrab shows a damaged car and buildings from the explosion which targeted the town of al-Bab in northwest Syria on October 6, 2020. (Reuters)

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 neighbourhood of Damascus, without causing any casualties, SANA reported at the time.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since civil war broke out in 2011, targeting Iran-backed forces including Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement as well as Syrian army positions.