Syrian officials said on Thursday that a preliminary investigation of the July 7 bombings in the capital city of Damascus — perpetrated during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron — suggests that a terrorist cell linked to the Islamic State was responsible.
Police have taken an unspecified number of suspects belonging to the cell into custody.
Two explosions shook Damascus on Tuesday, just before Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa met with Macron. One of the bombs was detonated near the Ministry of Tourism. The other was near the Four Seasons Hotel, where Macron was believed to be staying.
The Syrian Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that the bomb near the hotel was “outside the security zone designated for the French president’s residence,” and posed no “direct threat” to Macron or his entourage, especially since he had already departed for his meeting with Sharaa.
The bombs, described as “primitive” by police, detonated as explosives experts were attempting to disarm them. One person was killed and 36 injured by the bombings, most of them members of the security forces.
Brig. Gen. Ahmad al-Dalati, commander of Syria’s national police force, said on Thursday its investigation pointed to an ISIS-linked cell as the culprits.
Dalati said one member of the cell was positively identified by security camera footage, and that individual was “monitored” to learn the identities of the other members.
Interior Minister Annas Khattab announced on Thursday that several members of the cell had been arrested in raids across rural Damascus.
“The cell responsible for the terrorist bombings that targeted Damascus two days ago is now in our custody,” he said.
Khattab promised that more details about the suspects and their terrorist cell would be revealed after the investigation was complete.
The Interior Ministry statement said that raids were conducted in four neighborhoods “across Damascus and its countryside,” including two that are heavily populated with Alawites, the Shiite Muslim minority that claimed deposed dictator Bashar Assad as a member.
The Alawites are now resented by some other groups in Syria because they were privileged and favored by the dictatorship, and some accuse the Alawite community of harboring Assad loyalists and terrorists like ISIS.