A bomb exploded inside a crowded cafe in Syria’s capital on Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding nearly two dozen, according to the Syrian authorities.
Syria’s interior ministry said the blast, near the main courthouse complex in Damascus, had been caused by an explosive device but did not say who was responsible. State media published images of bloodied floors and overturned chairs as emergency workers rushed through crowded streets to the scene.
At Al-Mujtahid Hospital in Damascus, where most of the casualties were taken, families moved from door to door, pleading with the staff to let them see their loved ones’ bodies. Samar, 61, said her brother Fathi had been with the family less than two hours before he was killed. His wife, Rawaa, was also wounded in the blast.
“Now he’s gone,” said Samar’s brother Mohammed. “I’m going to lose my mind.” All of those interviewed asked to be identified by their first names only, citing security concerns.
The explosion was the latest in a succession of bombings and militant attacks that have tested Syria’s new authorities since an Islamist-led rebel coalition swept to power in late 2024 and deposed Bashar al-Assad, the dictator who had ruled the country for nearly a quarter-century.
The Islamic State, which once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq, has claimed several of those attacks. Now operating largely through scattered cells, it has increasingly cast the country’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, as an enemy, accusing him of betraying its extremist interpretation of Islam and serving foreign interests.
Earlier this year, the Islamic State announced what it called a “new phase” of operations against the country’s leadership. Still, analysts who track the group say its current pace of attacks remains far below the levels recorded in 2024 and 2025.
Although Syria has largely avoided direct involvement in the wider wars convulsing the Middle East, Mr. al-Sharaa’s efforts to stabilize a country fragmented by nearly 14 years of civil war have been repeatedly tested by violence at home.
The latest attack struck at a delicate moment in Syria’s fragile transition. A day earlier, Mr. al-Sharaa completed the formation of Syria’s first post-Assad parliament by appointing the final 70 members of the 210-seat chamber. The legislature is scheduled to convene on Monday, a significant milestone in the country’s effort to recover from years of dictatorship and war.
Syrian officials portrayed the attack on Thursday as an attempt to derail that progress.
“Syria is recovering, and this recovery is accelerating,” the governor of Damascus, Maher Marwan Idlibi, said at the scene. “The aim of this bombing is to cause disruption.”
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