At least 14 people were killed and 11 others injured in an explosion at a temporary storage site for weapons and war remnants near the city of Sarmada in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province on Wednesday.
The Idlib health department said the blast occurred near the city of Sarmada at a site used to store weapons and remnants of war. It did not give a cause for the explosion.
“The toll from the explosion … registered 14 killed and 11 injured in a preliminary count,” the health department said.
Earlier, the media department of Syria’s defence ministry told state television that several ministry personnel had been wounded in the incident.
Images broadcast by Syrian media showed thick columns of smoke rising from the site as rescuers moved towards the area.
The blast was the second deadly explosion reported in Idlib this month. Earlier, five people were killed in the city of Binnish when a vehicle carrying ammunition exploded.
A government source told news agency at the time that the vehicle belonged to a weapons trader, although authorities did not disclose what caused the explosion.
Idlib has experienced sporadic blasts in recent years, including incidents involving ammunition-laden vehicles and arms storage facilities.
The province was a major stronghold of armed anti-government groups during Syria’s more than 13-year civil war.
Longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December 2024.
