ISIS claims bomb attack in Syria’s capital

Nine people are believed to have been killed and 20 others injured in a bomb attack on the Syrian capital, Damascus, on 9 February. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, which marks the group’s first on the city, and ends two years of relative peace in Damascus. A car bomb targeted a police officers’ club and nearby vegetable market in Masaken Barzeh (in the north of the city). This is the most violent incident in the area since the government secured a truce with insurgents; under the agreement, the insurgents maintain the neighbourhood’s security. ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack on the outskirts of Damascus in January in which dozens died. These attacks come at a time when government forces, with air support from Russia, are making significant gains against ISIS and opposition groups.

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — The Islamic State claimed its first attack inside the Syrian capital on Tuesday, asserting responsibility for a car bomb that destroyed a police officers’ club and left several people dead and dozens wounded.

The bombing, witnesses and regional news reports said, struck Masaken Barzeh, a neighborhood on the northern edge of the city that had been largely secure and quiet. Within hours the Islamic State, using its official media channels, said it had orchestrated the blast. The Islamic State had said it was behind an assault last month on the Sayeda Zeinab shrine on the outskirts of the capital that left dozens dead.

The blast on Tuesday came amid government advances against insurgents in northern Syria, a signal that even as the leadership goes on the offensive in some parts of the country, government-controlled areas, including those believed to be secure, remain vulnerable.