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Dozens of Syrians were killed and scores wounded after a drone attack on a military graduation ceremony in central Syria, in one the deadliest attacks against the war-devastated state’s army.
The Syrian military blamed “terrorists” for the attack, saying in a statement that drones carrying explosives targeted the graduation ceremony for academy cadets in the central city of Homs on Thursday afternoon shortly after the event ended.
Syria’s health minister Hassan al-Ghabash said at least 80 people were killed, including six children, according to news agencies.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said at least 112 people were killed, including 21 civilians.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack and no group claimed responsibility for the strike.
But it underlined the lingering threat to the regime and its forces more than 12 years after a popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad escalated into a civil war.
Fighting has diminished in recent years as Assad’s forces have reclaimed control over about 60 per cent of the country after brutally crushing the rebellion with the military backing of Russia and Iran.
The remnants of the opposition forces are confined to enclaves in north and north-west Syria.
There were reports of retaliatory shelling in Syria’s north-west province of Idlib, which is controlled by an Islamist movement, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and is home to more than 3mn people, most of whom fled areas recaptured by the regime.
UN secretary-general António Guterres “expressed deep concern” at the drone attack in Homs as well as “reports of retaliatory shelling” in north-west Syria, his spokesperson said.
The Syrian military had vowed it would respond to the attack “with full force”.
During the war, Isis, the jihadist group, also exploited the chaos of the conflict in Syria and instability in Iran to take control of huge portions of both countries in 2014. The militants were driven from their territorial strongholds by an international coalition in 2019, but Isis cells still operate in both countries.
While Assad has regained control over much of the country, he presides over a fractured nation and a weak state after the years of conflict.
The economy, which is under heavy sanctions, is in a state of collapse. Last month protests erupted in an area of southern Syria that remained under regime control throughout the war, underscoring rising anger at the economic malaise.
The government announced three days of mourning after the attack.
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