‘Truck bomb detonates near Russia base in Syria’

It is first such jihadist attack in the area.

January 01, 2021 09:48 pm | Updated 09:48 pm IST - Beirut

A car bomb detonated near a Russian military base in northeastern Syria on Friday in the first such jihadist attack in the area against the ally of Damascus, a war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported several wounded in the attack after midnight in the Tal Saman area in Raqa province, but did not give an exact figure.

There was no immediate Russian report of the incident, which occurred in a broader area controlled by Kurdish-led forces but where the Syrian regime and its ally Russia are also present.

A statement circulated on social media and attributed to the al-Qaeda-linked Hurras al-Deen jihadist group claimed the attack.

The Observatory said two men parked an explosives-laden pickup truck outside the base and fled, in what was a rare such assault by Hurras al-Deen in the area.

“It’s the first such direct attack against a Russian base in northeastern Syria,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Hurras al-Deen has fighters in the country’s last major rebel bastion in the northwestern region of Idlib, but very rarely operates outside that area.

Russia entered Syria’s war in 2015, and its Air Force has backed Damascus regime forces.

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