Syria revises casualties after minibus bomb near Damascus

A bomb planted in a minibus wounded 14 people on the outskirts of Syria's capital Damascus on Thursday night, with some of the injuries so severe that they were taken for fatalities, an official said on Friday.

Officials had said on Thursday that two people were killed in the blast. Health ministry head of media, Riad al-Sayed Hasan, told Reuters that assessment was based on the discovery of body parts at the scene which turned out to be those of some of the people severely wounded.

The blast occurred in the predominantly Druze area of Jaramana, outside Damascus. A security source told the state-run Ekhbariya TV that the blast was caused by an explosive device planted on the vehicle, citing preliminary information.

Footage from the scene showed the blown-up husk of a white minibus being dragged away from the site of the blast.

Authorities have not blamed anyone for the attack, which took place in an area where there have been clashes between the Druze and Islamist militants backing the authorities that took over after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

MINIBUS DRIVER IS AMONG THE WOUNDED

Jaramana resident Samer Abbas was metres away in his clothing store when the explosion went off. A piece of shrapnel hit the storefront. 

“It was a strong, unnatural sound,” he told Reuters. His son had been sitting outside. Fearing the worst, Abbas said he could not breathe until he confirmed he was safe.

“My blood dried up until I checked up on him, I saw him ... until I heard his voice,” he said. 

Over at the Mujtahid Hospital in Damascus, Bassel Imad said the bombing was "sadistic". His cousin Safouh was driving the vehicle that exploded and lay injured.

The targeted street in Jaramana is narrow and includes shops and street vendors, Imad said, as people clamored around him.

"What happened was very wicked," he added.

A U.N. investigation in March found more than 1,700 people, most of them civilian members of the Druze religious sect and some members of the Bedouin community, were killed in the southern Sweida province south of Damascus in July 2025.

Some factions amongst the Druze, who are considered heretics by some Islamist militants, have resisted integration efforts by the authorities, citing the July 2025 violence.

The U.N. investigation said Syrian government forces, tribal fighters and Druze armed groups may have committed war crimes.