A car bomb detonated near a Russian military base in northeastern Syria Friday in the first such extremist 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.
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
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 extremist 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 in several deadly military campaigns against Idlib.
Russia has repeatedly accused rebels in Idlib of attacking its Hmeimim airbase west of the opposition stronghold with drones, but car bomb attacks are much rarer.
Russian troops are stationed in northern Syria, including as part of several deals brokered with rebel backer Turkey.
Syria’s war has killed more than 387,000 people and displaced millions from their homes since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Read more:
Israel says it hit 50 targets in Syria in 2020 including govt, Iran, Hezbollah forces
Syria War killed 6,800 in 2020, lowest annual toll: Monitor
Syria's state media says 28 killed in bus ambush in Deir al-Zor
Also Read
-
Israel says it hit 50 targets in Syria in 2020 including govt, Iran, Hezbollah forces
Israel's military, which rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria blamed on its forces, said Thursday it had hit about 50 targets in the ... Middle East -
Syria War killed 6,800 in 2020, lowest annual toll: Monitor
The Syrian conflict claimed at least 6,800 people in 2020, the lowest annual death toll since it began nearly a decade ago, a war monitor said ... Middle East -
Syria's state media says 28 killed in bus ambush in Deir al-Zor
Twenty-eight people were killed in an attack on a bus along a main highway in Syria's Deir al-Zor province that borders Iraq, Syrian state media said ... Middle East
