Explosion at Syrian army depot in Deir Az Zor kills 11 soldiers

A detonation at a weapons cache inside a Syrian Arab Army facility in the town of Ayyash, western Deir Az Zor, resulted in eleven soldiers dead and nine wounded, the defence ministry reported. Officials indicated the blast happened as soldiers were transporting heavy ammunition, but the precise cause has not been identified and an inquiry is ongoing. The fallen soldiers were taken to the National Hospital in Deir Az Zor, where a funeral procession with bodies wrapped in Syrian flags took place.

This is the second military-site explosion in under two weeks, after a September 9 blast at a temporary depot in Sarmada, Idlib, which killed fourteen soldiers. The ministry has previously noted the difficulty of securing sites where civilians collect abandoned munitions, underscoring the continued risk as Syria works to clear extensive war-time stockpiles.