Syrian officer and four others wounded in Damascus car bombing as violence escalates in Daraa

A police car in Damascus exploded on Wednesday morning, injuring at least five people in a rare attack in the Syrian capital.

The bomb exploded outside a police station in the Barzeh district, a former rebel stronghold, injuring an officer and four security personnel who were taken to hospital for treatment, according to the Syrian interior ministry.

Syrian security forces are investigating the incident and no claims of responsibility have been made.

Rare bomb attack in Syrian capital

Media sources close to the Syrian regime said that the explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to the vehicle, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, The New Arab's Arabic-language service, reported.

Barzeh has been mostly quiet since it fell to Bashar al-Assad's forces in 2017, ending several years of opposition control of the neighbourhood.

In 2018, a scientific research facility in the area, which the West says was part of a covert Syrian regime chemical weapons programme, was targeted in US-led airstrikes.

The Damascus area has witnessed occasional bomb attacks since the city came under complete regime control in 2018.

On 3 April, civilians, including children, were injured when an IED exploded in a civilian car in the Mezzeh district of Damascus. 

Instability rises in Syria's southern Daraa province

In southern Syria, formerly controlled by rebels, the region has witnessed more violence.

On Tuesday evening, a man accused of drug trafficking was killed in an attack by unknown assailants in Tariq Al-Sad neighbourhood of Daraa Al-Balad, southern Syria.

Gunmen targeted Khaled Ahmed Al-Karad, a local mechanic, as he crossed a bridge in the neighbourhood. He died from his injuries shortly after reaching the hospital.

"Al-Karad used to work in a motorbike mechanic's workshop and was accused of drug trafficking in Deraa," local activist Mohammed Al-Hourani told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Sources said there were preparations for a military operation aimed at setting up new checkpoints and searching for wanted persons and weapons in Daraa al-Balad and the Daraa camp.https://t.co/orgSZLFl2c

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) April 30, 2023

The man was related to former rebel leaders of factions in Daraa which had reconciled with the regime in 2018, he added.

No party has claimed responsibility for the attack, which came a day after the killing of Marai al-Ramthan, a suspected prominent drug trafficker, who was killed in a suspected Jordanian air raid on his family home in Suweidah province, southern Syria.

On Monday, two brothers, who were reportedly once affiliated with the Syrian regime's Fifth Corps, were shot dead in the city of Hirak in eastern Daraa province.

Daraa province is under the control of the Syrian regime forces but has been a hotbed of unrest and instability.  

Sources said there were preparations for a military operation aimed at setting up new checkpoints and searching for wanted persons and weapons in Daraa al-Balad and the Daraa camp.https://t.co/orgSZLFl2c

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) April 30, 2023

Former rebels, some now affiliated with the regime, have been repeatedly targeted by unknown gunmen, while regime security forces have also come under repeated attacks.

Daraa has also become awash with the drug captagon, with production and trafficking taking place in the province on an industrial scale.

It saw a surge in violence in April, with the Horan Free League documenting 47 killings in Daraa province amid increasingly unstable conditions.

Rebel parts of Daraa province fell in 2018 following a combination of brutal regime military attacks and Russian-brokered reconciliation agreements.