Mourners took to the streets of Damascus on Friday, one day after a bomb hidden inside a cafe in the Syrian capital claimed the lives of nine people.
A funeral procession wound through the typically lively Midan neighborhood, with pallbearers carrying the coffins of three of the victims. The explosion at the popular cafe — located close to the city’s main judicial complex and commonly visited by lawyers — also left 20 people injured.
Syrian authorities have pledged to track down and arrest those responsible for the attack, though no updates on the investigation have been made public. As of Friday, no group had stepped forward to claim responsibility.
Bahaa Qabbani told reporters that his brother, Fathi Qabbani — a married father with one son — worked at a shop close to the blast site and happened to be walking past the cafe when the explosion occurred. He did not survive.
Bahaa Qabbani described those behind the attack as “a group of terrorists who are against the homeland” and urged the nation’s security forces to “take hold of the country with an iron fist.”
Separately on Friday, Syria’s state-run news outlet SANA reported that three security force members were injured in a grenade attack at a checkpoint leading into the Damascus suburb of Jaramana. According to SANA, a man riding a motorcycle hurled two hand grenades at checkpoint guards and attempted to throw a third, but it detonated in his hand, killing him. A second individual was taken into custody in connection with the incident.
Syria’s new leadership, which came to power following the rapid fall of the Assad dynasty in December 2024, has faced ongoing difficulties maintaining control throughout the country and containing extremist activity. Recent deadly attacks attributed to the Islamic State group have struck religious minority communities, including a suicide bombing at a church in a Damascus suburb and an explosion at a mosque in a predominantly Alawite section of the city of Homs.
