An improvised explosive device planted inside a cafe in central Damascus killed nine people and wounded 20 others on Thursday, Syria’s interior ministry confirmed, one day after Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa completed appointments to the country’s first post-Assad legislature.
The interior ministry said preliminary investigations indicated the device was crudely made, weighed roughly one kilogram, and was packed with metal shrapnel. The blast occurred at approximately 3:24 p.m. local time on al-Nasser Street, roughly 328 feet from the Palace of Justice in central Damascus.
مشاهد خاصة لسوريا الآن من محيط موقع الانفجار في مقهى بالقرب من القصر العدلي في دمشق #خاص pic.twitter.com/qs3r3IH9mi
— سوريا الآن – أخبار (@AJSyriaNowN) July 2, 2026
The Damascus governor confirmed an IED had been planted at the scene and said at least one suspect seen fleeing was pursued and captured. He attributed the attack to “bad actors” seeking to destabilize Syria as the transitional government works to rebuild the country’s security and economic situation.
Death toll from #Damascus café explosion rises to 9, with 22 injured.
– According to Syrian authorities, the blast was caused by an explosive device planted inside a popular café on al-Nasr Street in the al-Hijaz neighborhood, near the Palace of Justice (not a suicide bombing).… pic.twitter.com/bRsYQnHrqw— Adrian Shtuni (@Shtuni) July 2, 2026
Mohammed al-Zahabi, a glasses shop owner next to the targeted cafe, told AFP he saw “people lying on the floor with blood pooled around them everywhere.”
No group has taken responsibility. The blast is the deadliest in Damascus since a suicide attack on a church killed 25 people in June 2025. Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah, a Sunni Islamist group, said it carried out that bombing, though Syrian authorities attributed it to Islamic State (IS).
Thursday’s blast fits a pattern of IS strikes against Syria’s governmental and judicial institutions. On June 21, IS said it carried out an attack that seriously wounded a senior judicial official in the Damascus countryside. Security officials have said the group has reactivated sleeper cells and moved weapons across the country since Assad’s ouster.
IS announced earlier this year a new phase of operations against al-Sharaa’s government. The new 210-seat legislature is scheduled to hold its first session on Monday.
