EXPLOSION AT SYRIA ARMS DEPOT KILLS 14 IN IDLIB PROVINCE

An explosion at a temporary weapons depot near Sarmada in Syria's northwestern Idlib province killed 14 people on Wednesday, according to the local health department. The blast also injured 11 people, the Idlib health department said in a preliminary count. Syrian state television reported that personnel from the Defence Ministry were among those injured. The cause of the explosion remains unclear.

Thick smoke and fire billowed from the site for hours following the blast, which occurred at a facility used to store weapons and munitions from Syria's civil war that lasted between 2011 and 2024. Secondary explosions hampered efforts by firefighting teams to extinguish the fires. Emergency teams were dispatched immediately and conducted search and rescue operations for survivors trapped under rubble. The weapons depot was located at Burj al-Nimra village in northern Idlib's countryside.

The incident marks the second deadly explosion in Idlib province this month. On 1 September, a vehicle carrying ammunition exploded in the city of Binnish, also in Idlib, killing five people and wounding others. Authorities have not specified what caused either explosion. Such incidents are recorded regularly in Syria, which has only recently emerged from more than a decade of armed conflict.