ByREUTERS, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Updated:

Two people were killed and at least 70 injured in an explosion in the Idlib countryside of northwestern Syria, the state news agency SANA said on Thursday.

Raed Al-Sale, Syria’s minister of emergency and disaster management, said in a post on X that civil defense teams rushed to the scene of a blast of unknown causes in the town of Maarrat Misrin in the northern Idlib countryside.

He said the teams were carrying out evacuation and rescue operations despite ongoing secondary blasts that were hindering the response.

Cause of the explosion

No final toll of casualties had been confirmed, he added, urging residents to avoid the site for their own safety as teams continued to work under dangerous and complex conditions.

Bedouin fighters stand along a street with their weapons, as Sweida province has been engulfed by nearly a week of violence triggered by clashes between Bedouin fighters and factions from the Druze, in Idlib, Syria, July 18, 2025.
Bedouin fighters stand along a street with their weapons, as Sweida province has been engulfed by nearly a week of violence triggered by clashes between Bedouin fighters and factions from the Druze, in Idlib, Syria, July 18, 2025. (credit: Karam al-Masri/Reuters)

The cause of the explosion is currently unknown, though it comes after weeks of conflict as state forces and Bedouin militias targeted Syria's Druze community.

This is a developing story.