At least five people were killed when munitions exploded while being transferred from a vehicle to a warehouse in north-west Syria on Tuesday, underscoring the danger posed by the proliferation of weapons in the country after almost 14 years of civil war.
Shells, ammunition and other military ordnance inside the vehicle were detonated in Binnish, in Idlib governorate, official news agency Sana reported.
According to a local source, the detonations began while the munitions were being unloaded from a vehicle at the warehouse of an arms dealer, who was killed in the blasts.
The explosions continued for more than an hour and a half, destroying some shops in the area.
Sobhi Assaf, an official at the Health Ministry in Idlib, told The National at least five people had been killed and added that the death toll was not final.
Civil defence teams were still searching for missing people and securing the scene of the blast, he said.
Mustafa Droubi, whose home is close to the site of the explosion, said he saw “bullets flying through the air” and thick smoke.
“I saw human remains as I was heading to work,” he told The National. “It was a very powerful explosion. There were shells that had not yet exploded.”
Authorities have not said who was in the vehicle or why the ammunition exploded.
Idlib province was a rebel stronghold during the civil war, with many weapon depots in the area and much of the population heavily armed.
Rebel forces led by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, a former Al Qaeda affiliate, launched an 11-day offensive in December 2024 that ultimately toppled the regime of Bashar Al Assad. The group's former members now control the state.
