Militants target Shia shrine in Syrian capital
At least 12 people died and 55 others were injured in a double bomb attack outside the Sayyida Zeinab shrine in the capital, Damascus, on 11 June. The shrine, which is an important holy site for Shia Muslims worldwide, is heavily guarded. Underlining the reverence held for the site, Shia militant group, Hezbollah, said that its key reason for entering Syria’s civil war in support of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad was because of the threat posed to the shrine. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, revealing that three suicide bombers had attacked the complex, one with a car bomb. The group has launched attacks in the district twice already this year, during which it has killed more than 150 people.

A double bomb attack outside a Shia shrine near Syria’s capital has killed at least eight people in the latest in repeated deadly strikes on the revered site, state media said.

The official Sana news agency said a suicide bomber and a car bomb struck at the entrance to the Sayyida Zeinab shrine, which is revered by Shia Muslims around the world.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, reported a higher toll of at least 12 people killed and 30 wounded in the blasts.

The shrine, about 10km (six miles) south of the centre of Damascus, is heavily guarded by pro-government forces but has still been the target of several jihadi attacks, including those claimed by Islamic State.

Syria’s official Al Ekhbariya channel showed images from the scene of burnt-out cars with billowing plumes of black smoke. Firefighters battled to extinguish the flames as shop signs lay in the street.

The last attack on Sayyida Zeinab on 25 April killed at least seven and wounded dozens.

A string of Isis bombings near the shrine in February left 134 people dead, most of them civilians, according to the Observatory. And in January, another attack claimed by Isis killed 70 people.

Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah cited the threat to Sayyida Zeinab as a principal reason for its intervention in Syria’s civil war on the side of Bashar al-Assad.

The shrine contains the grave of Zeinab, a venerated granddaughter of the prophet Muhammad, and is renowned for its glistening golden, onion-shaped dome.