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Ordnance from Syria’s 13-Year Conflict Explodes in Port City, Killing at Least 16 People

A SANA picture shows emergency workers at the site of the explosion. SANA/AFP
A SANA picture shows emergency workers at the site of the explosion. SANA/AFP
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Ordnance from Syria’s 13-Year Conflict Explodes in Port City, Killing at Least 16 People

A SANA picture shows emergency workers at the site of the explosion. SANA/AFP
A SANA picture shows emergency workers at the site of the explosion. SANA/AFP

Ordnance from Syria's 13-year conflict exploded in the coastal city of Latakia, collapsing a building and killing more than a dozen people, the Syrian Civil Defense said Sunday.

The paramedic group, known as the White Helmets, said it worked overnight, searching through debris and recovered 16 bodies, including five women and five children, and that 18 others were injured.  

The group and residents said the explosion occurred in a metal scrap storage space on the ground floor of the four-story building.

The United Nations said in February that about a hundred have been killed from exploding ordnance during the last 13 years, adding that since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in December, over 1,400 unexploded devices across Syria have been safely disposed of and 138 minefields and contaminated areas identified in Idleb, Aleppo, Hama, Deir Ezzor and Latakia.

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Head of Pro-Iran Armed Faction Arrested in Syria, Says Monitor

Security forces detained Moayad Abdul Samad al-Douaihy in Deir Ezzor on Thursday. (AFP file)
Security forces detained Moayad Abdul Samad al-Douaihy in Deir Ezzor on Thursday. (AFP file)
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Head of Pro-Iran Armed Faction Arrested in Syria, Says Monitor

Security forces detained Moayad Abdul Samad al-Douaihy in Deir Ezzor on Thursday. (AFP file)
Security forces detained Moayad Abdul Samad al-Douaihy in Deir Ezzor on Thursday. (AFP file)

Security forces in Syria's eastern city of Deir Ezzor have arrested the head of an Iran-affiliated faction that fought alongside ousted President Bashar al-Assad's forces, a war monitor said Friday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces detained Moayad Abdul Samad al-Douaihy in Deir Ezzor on Thursday.

The Britain-based Observatory said Douaihy founded and led a faction known as the Sayyida Zeinab Brigade, affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

That faction was active in the city of Al-Mayadeen, fighting alongside Assad's forces, said the Observatory which has a network of sources in Syria.

It added that Douaihy received Iranian citizenship after converting to the Shiite branch of Islam.

Douaihy was "involved in a long list of crimes including financial blackmail, drug smuggling, theft of civilians' properties and selling displaced people's land to naturalized Iranian and Afghan mercenaries", the Observatory said.

Security forces also arrested Major General Abdul Karim al-Muhaimid, the former political security chief in Deir Ezzor province under Assad, the monitor said.

Iran had mobilized about 20,000 fighters, mostly Syrians, in different factions to fight alongside Assad's forces.

Before Assad was toppled, much of Deir Ezzor province near the border with Iraq was a key stronghold of Iran-backed forces.

Some handed in their weapons after Assad's ouster in December, but others remain in hiding, according to the Observatory.

Since seizing power, Syria's new authorities have regularly announced the arrest of Assad-era security officials.