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