17 injured in 4.8-magnitude earthquake in west Syria

Around 17 people were injured in the city of Salamiyah in western Syria on Friday following a 4.8-magnitude earthquake, Syrian regime news agency Sana said.

The quake, which was felt by residents in Syria and Lebanon, was at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), the German Research Centre for Geosciences said.

Syria's National Earthquake Centre said two quakes were detected in Hama province, where Salamiyah is located.

The tremors were felt in most areas of the country.

Turkish disaster management agency AFAD said the epicentre of the first earthquake was Tal Al-Dirrah near Salamiyah, at seven-kilometres' (four-miles') depth.

The second tremor took place minutes later in the city's northern countryside.

Another 4.8-magnitude earthquake struck the city of Hama in western Syria late on Monday, causing panic and dozens of injuries but no casualties.

From Thursday to 8am (5am GMT) on Friday, nine quakes were detected by Syria's National Earthquake Monitoring Centre, according to The New Arab's sister broadcaster Syria TV.

"As long as these tremors are of lesser intensity, they are considered aftershocks within the same system and seismic area where the earthquakes are distributed," Raed Ahmad, head of the country's earthquake monitoring, said previously on Friday.

"The weak to moderate tremors will continue in the coming period," he said, according to Athr Press.

"These tremors will not develop into a strong quake currently," he said, adding that a quake of magnitude five or above would lead to the chances being re-examined "and it is possible we may consider a more distant scenario".

Reuters contributed to this report.