At least 14 people were killed and 11 others injured after an explosion at a temporary ammunition storage facility near Sarmada in the Idlib countryside in north-west Syria, according to local authorities.
The Idlib Health Directorate told state TV that a preliminary count put the death toll from the explosion at 14, with 11 people sustaining injuries ranging from minor to moderate.
Idlib provincial authorities had initially reported three deaths at the site, which they said was a makeshift depot for collecting weapons and war remnants.
“There are victims whom rescue teams have been unable to retrieve so far because of the explosions caused by the ammunition,” the health directorate's media director, Sobhi Assaf, told The National earlier.
The Syrian Defence Ministry later announced that the dead were all ministry personnel, while there were civilians among the injured.
The incident comes days after an ammunition-laden vehicle exploded in nearby Binnish in the Idlib countryside, killing at least five people and injuring five others, according to Syrian state media.
Idlib province was a rebel stronghold during the civil war, with many weapons 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 Syria.
