Syrian intelligence agency says it thwarted a planned Islamic State attack on a Shiite shrine

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Published Jan 11, 2025  •  3 minute read

In this photo released by Lebanon's Prime Minister's office, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, right, meets with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Damascus, Syria, Saturday Jan. 11, 2025. (LEBANON PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE via AP) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DAMASCUS (AP) — Intelligence officials in Syria’s new de facto government thwarted a plan by the Islamic State group to set off a bomb at a Shiite shrine in the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, state media reported Saturday.

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State news agency SANA reported, citing an unnamed official in the General Intelligence Service, that members of the IS cell planning the attack were arrested. It quoted the official as saying that the intelligence service is “putting all its capabilities to stand in the face of all attempts to target the Syrian people in all their spectrums.”

Sayyida Zeinab has been the site of past attacks on Shiite pilgrims by IS — which takes an extreme interpretation of Sunni Islam and considers Shiites to be infidels.

In 2023, a motorcycle planted with explosives detonated in Sayyida Zeinab, killing at least six people and wounding dozens a day before the Shiite holy day of Ashoura,

The announcement that the attack had been thwarted appeared to be another attempt by the country’s new leaders to reassure religious minorities, including those seen as having been supporters of the former government of Bashar Assad.

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Assad, a member of the Alawite minority, was allied with Iran and with the Shiite Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as well as Iranian-backed Iraqi militias.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the former insurgent group that led the lightning offensive that toppled Assad last month and is now the de facto ruling party in the country, is a Sunni Islamist group that formerly had ties with al-Qaida.

The group later split from al-Qaida, and HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa has preached religious coexistence since assuming power in Damascus.

Also Saturday, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrived in Damascus to meet with al-Sharaa.

Relations between the two countries had been strained under Assad, with Lebanon’s political factions deeply divided between those supporting and opposing Assad’s rule.

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Mikati told journalists following his meeting with al-Sharaa that the two countries will form a committee to work on demarcation of the border, which has never been officially defined.

Mikati also said they will work together to combat smuggling on the porous frontier.

“Some of the matters on the border need to be fully controlled, especially at illegal border points, to stop any smuggling operation between Lebanon and Syria,” he said.

One particularly knotty issue is the area known as Chebaa Farms, which is currently controlled by Israel as part of the Golan Heights it captured from Syria in 1967 and subsequently annexed. Most of the international community regards the area as occupied.

Beirut and Damascus say Chebaa Farms belong to Lebanon. The United Nations says the area is part of Syria and that Damascus and Israel should negotiate its fate. The fact that the Lebanon-Syria border was never clearly demarcated has complicated the issue.

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In response to a question about demarcation of that area, al-Sharaa did not give a clear answer.

“I think it is too early to talk about all the details of border demarcation,” he said. “There are so many problems in the Syrian reality. We can’t solve it all at once.”

Al-Sharaa said he hopes, meanwhile, that issues at the official border crossing will soon be resolved. Lebanese citizens, who had previously crossed easily into Syria without needing a visa, are currently barred from entry.

“We seek to have social ties between us that increase and not decrease, so any border obstacles between us should be eliminated in the future, but this is a detailed matter for customs officials,” al-Sharaa said.

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