Tehran, IRNA - The Interior Ministry of the Syrian government said that the Syrian Intelligence and security forces have thwarted an ISIS plot to detonate explosives inside the Shrine of Sayyida Zainab in Damascus.
The official Syrian news agency SANA quoted the source as saying on Saturday that the Intelligence Directorate, in collaboration with the Public Security Department in the suburbs of Damascus, successfully prevented an ISIS attempt to carry out a bombing at the Shrine of Sayyida Zainab.
The source stated, "The operation resulted in the arrest of individuals involved in this significant criminal plot targeting the Syrian people."
The Syrian armed opposition groups, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), overthrew the government of President Bashar al-Assad in early December of last year, soon after they launched a blitz attack against the central government.
The new rulers in Syria have reportedly enforced strict security measures to protect the Iranian embassy and its affiliated buildings in Damascus and other cities.
The new administration, led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has begun implementing the security protocols around the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Baghdad al-Youm reported, citing Syrian sources.
HTS militants have cordoned off the embassy and closed its main entrances as part of these measures, in what seems to be an attempt at de-escalating tensions with Tehran, a key ally of former president Bashar al-Assad.
They are also preventing anyone from approaching the embassy or defacing it with anti-Iran graffiti.
The international community has not officially recognized Tahrir al-Sham as the government of Syria. However, the visits of officials from some countries to Damascus suggest a tacit acknowledgment of this group as the de facto government of Syria.
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