The Internal Security Command in Rural Damascus Governorate announced that it had foiled what it said was a plan to carry out an attack targeting the capital, Damascus, during a security operation conducted in cooperation with the General Intelligence Service and in coordination with Turkish intelligence.
In a statement issued today, Thursday, March 5, the Syrian Ministry of Interior said the operation followed a period of close intelligence monitoring. During that time, authorities tracked the movements of a cell suspected of belonging to the Islamic State group and monitored the activities of its members until their location was precisely identified.
According to the statement, security forces prepared what they described as a “well-planned” raid, carried out with high precision, which resulted in the arrest of all members of the cell.
The ministry said the detainees are three individuals, Omar Hashem, Mohammad Hamad, and Hussein Khalaf, without providing additional details about the locations of their arrests or their backgrounds.
During the operation, specialized engineering units dealt with a car bomb parked at what the statement described as a sensitive location and prepared for remote detonation.
The ministry said the vehicle contained quantities of highly explosive materials, including TNT and C4. Specialized teams managed to dismantle and neutralize it without causing damage or injuries.
The detainees were referred to the Counterterrorism Directorate to continue investigations aimed at uncovering the potential extensions of the cell and identifying those involved in supporting it, in preparation for referring them to the competent judiciary according to legal procedures.
Attempts to assassinate al-Sharaa
The Washington Post previously cited a United Nations report stating that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Interior Minister Anas Khattab, and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani were targets of five assassination attempts that were foiled during the past year.
According to the newspaper, which reported the information on February 12, the details were based on a report prepared by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism and submitted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to the Security Council. The report addressed the ongoing threat posed by the Islamic State group in Syria.
The report indicated that al-Sharaa was a primary target of the group and had been subjected to assassination attempts in northern Aleppo governorate in addition to another attempt in Daraa governorate in southern Syria.
According to the report, these attempts were attributed to a group called “Saraya Ansar al-Sunna,” believed to be a front used by the Islamic State group, allowing it greater deniability and operational flexibility.
The report added that these attempts reflect the group’s continued efforts to undermine the new Syrian government, taking advantage of security gaps in some areas despite the political changes the country has witnessed since the end of 2024.
The report did not include exact dates for the assassination attempts or details about their nature or how they were foiled.
In a related context, Reuters previously reported that Syrian authorities had foiled two separate assassination attempts by the Islamic State group targeting al-Sharaa in recent months.
On November 10, 2025, the agency quoted two sources it described as senior, one Syrian and the other from a Middle Eastern country, as saying that one of the attempts targeted a previously announced official event that al-Sharaa was expected to attend. No further details were disclosed due to what was described as the sensitivity of the issue.
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