The Syrian Interior Ministry said on Thursday that a bomb was detonated at a cafe in central Damascus, killing ten people and wounding 22 more.
The ministry described the blast as a “terrorist attack,” but there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The Al-Mushairiya Cafe is located just 250 feet from the Palace of Justice in Damascus, the main courthouse complex for the city. The cafe was a popular venue for lawyers and people with business before the court.
According to local media reports, six of the slain victims were lawyers. The Syrian Bar Association mourned the “constellation of its fellow lawyers who were martyred” in a statement published on Friday, as a funeral procession carried three of the dead in their coffins to their final resting places.
One of the victims was identified as Eid Muhammad, a lawyer and father of six daughters from a village called al-Hajjah who was reading legal documents at the cafe when the bomb went off. Photos posted to social media showed him lying face down in a pool of his own blood, surrounded by the shredded documents he had been reading.
Another victim was Fathi Qabbani, described by his brother Bahaa Qabbani as a passerby who happened to be walking past the cafe on his way to work when the bomb detonated.
Fathi Qabbai denounced his brother’s yet-unknown killers as “a group of terrorists who are against the homeland,” and hoped Syrian security forces would “take hold of the country with an iron fist.”
The Interior Ministry said the bomb was a small, “crudely-made” explosive device that weighed about two pounds, and was packed full of metal shrapnel. Early reports hinted at a suicide bombing, but the Interior Ministry said the device was planted at the cafe and detonated later, either remotely or via a timer.
A security source told Al Jazeera News on Thursday that the bomber planted the improvised explosive device (IED) under a table at the cafe and then departed, “possibly intending to reach the courthouse to carry out further attacks.”
The bombing was the latest in a string of terrorist attacks and factional battles to sweep Syria since dictator Bashar Assad was deposed by an alliance of insurgents and jihadis in December 2024, capping off a brutal 14-year civil war. Its proximity to the justice complex made the bombing the worst security breach in Damascus since the junta took power.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for many previous terrorist attacks, although security experts say the tempo of its attacks is slowing from its peak in 2025.
The day before the cafe blast, interim president and former al-Qaeda lieutenant Ahmed al-Sharaa appointed the last 70 members of his 210-seat legislature, paving the way for its first full session on Monday. Damascus Governor Maher Marwan Idlibi said the bombing was an attempt to derail Syria’s postwar progress.
“Syria is recovering, and this recovery is accelerating. The aim of this bombing is to cause disruption,” Idlibi said from the scene of the crime on Thursday.
“The coming hours will reveal everything and those who shed the blood of Syrians will pay, but Syria will be well as long as we are one hand and this will not shake the Syrian state,” he vowed.
Al Jazeera noted that the Palace of Justice is currently holding high-profile trials for members of the Assad regime, including infamous security chief and accused torturer Atef Najib, whose alleged abuse of schoolchildren in 2011 was the event that kicked off the civil war.
At least 10,000 members of the Assad regime are still at large in Syria, including former security officers, intelligence agents, and militia leaders. Political analyst Kamal Abdo cautioned that some of those people have “very long experience” in carrying out terrorist operations.
The Interior Ministry said on Friday that investigators have gathered “all available evidence” from the cafe and surrounding area, including footage from surveillance cameras. The cafe has been closed since Thursday evening, and is under guard by Syrian Internal Security forces.