Syrian authorities foil ISIS plot to destroy Shiite shrine

 Saturday, January 11, 2025

ISLAMABAD (UrduPoint News Today/ Pakistan Point News - DW Urdu - 11th January 2025) A Syrian intelligence source told the Syrian state news agency SANA that security forces and intelligence “succeeded in thwarting a bomb attack inside the shrine of Sayyida Zainab.” The source, who did not give his name, added that several arrests had been made in this regard.

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Pilgrims visiting Sayyida Zainab’s shrine have been targeted by ISIS in the past. ISIS follows a radical interpretation of Sunni Islam and considers Shia Muslims to be outside Islam.

In 2023, a motorcycle bomb exploded in the same area a day before Ashura, killing at least six people and wounding dozens more.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati Visits Damascus

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday, January 11. According to the AFP news agency, this is the Lebanese prime minister's first visit to Damascus since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

His visit comes at a time when Syria and Lebanon are trying to improve relations after the rebels in Syria overthrew the long-ruling government of Bashar al-Assad.

According to AFP, Mikati is expected to meet with the new Syrian leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Mikati's visit comes a few days after the Lebanese parliament elected military chief Joseph Aoun as president. The post had been vacant for the past two years and had been the source of political differences.

Dozens of previous attempts to elect a president had failed due to a deadlock between Hezbollah supporters and opponents.

However, this issue has now been resolved after the weakening of the pro-Iranian group Hezbollah in the war with Israel. Syria had been the most important power in Lebanon for three decades, but Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in 2005 due to international pressure after the assassination of former Syrian Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a bomb attack.