Car bomb hits Bab al-Hawa crossing on Syria-Turkey border

A car bomb exploded on the Syrian side of the main Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey on Tuesday activists and a monitoring group said.

At least a dozen people were taken to nearby hospitals, Syrian opposition activists on the border said, speaking to Reuters.

The explosion occurred at a roadblock manned by Islamist brigades at the entrance of the rebel-held crossing, several hundred meters from the Turkish side, they added.

The news was confirmed by a monitoring group. No deaths have been reported so far.

“A car bomb hit the main gateway to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, according to AFP.

This is the second car bomb attack on the crossing between Syria and Turkey. Previous clashes in the town of Shabaa killed 11 opposition troops on Monday.

A car bomb killed 13 people, including three Turks on Feb 11. Loyalist troops are reported to have seized control of parts of a town located on the road linking Damascus to the international airport, said the Observatory.

“Loyalists seized control last night of the town of Shabaa, after a special operation that was speedy and surgical, and which was aimed at capturing the most dangerous terrorist groups there,” State news agency (SANA) reported.

Al-Manar a Pro-Damascus Lebanese channel screened footage it claimed was taken inside Shabaa that showed footage of the army tanks firing at buildings in the town. The channel said, Loyalists found “a 500-meter (yard) tunnel parallel to the Damascus airport road, that the terrorists were using to hide and fire... from.”