CAR BOMB: A vehicle has been exploded in a busy Damascus square

The explosion went off in Maysat Sqaure, Damascus, leaving thick black smoke trailing into the sky.

Two people have been killed and several more wounded according to state television.

A local journalist claimed the impact was "far larger than regular mortar attack".

Official casualty numbers are not yet known.

There are also reports of a second explosion, which is yet to be confirmed. </s> At least four people were killed and 24 wounded on Wednesday in two rocket blasts in Damascus, the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

According to SANA, one rocket destroyed a car parked in al-Maisat Square killing two people and wounding 11 others, while another rocket hit the upper floors of the Damascus Commercial Tower in the al-Marjah district, leaving two dead and 13 wounded, mostly women and children. </s> Syrian state TV says at least 8 killed, 12 wounded in Damascus blasts (UPDATE)

10:21 (GMT+4) Syrian state TV says at least 8 killed, 12 wounded in Damascus blasts, AP reported.

10:21 (GMT+4) A suicide bomber blew himself up in Tahrir square in central Damascus on Sunday, killing and wounding a number of people, Reuters reported.

The bomber was in one of three car bombs that had been pursued by the authorities. The two other car bombs were destroyed in a separate location in western Damascus, state TV reported. </s> Shelling and a blast in Syria’s capital Damascus killed two people and wounded several others on Wednesday, state television said.

It reported “two killed and 14 wounded in terrorist attacks on Damascus Tower and Maysat Square”.

The shellfire struck at the tower in the central Marjeh Square district, while a second blast destroyed a car in the northeast of the city, it said.

State television first reported that the second blast was due to an explosive device inside a vehicle, but then said it may have been caused by rocket fire on the area.

An AFP correspondent in Damascus heard two large explosions.

State television broadcast images of security forces gathering around the mangled, burnt-out skeleton of a car in Maysat Square.

A few metres away, the metal shell of a small bus also appeared blackened.

Bassam al-Dahni, a government employee, said he had run to the scene after hearing what he described as a “large blast”.

Those who arrived found “wounded on the ground and we helped to get them to a hospital”, he told AFP, blood visible on his hands.

The body of the car’s driver was found burnt through, he said.

The two attacks came as regime forces battle to oust Islamic State group jihadists from the southern districts of the capital, including Yarmuk and the adjacent Hajar al-Aswad neighbourhood.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, says IS fighters have previously targeted the capital in recent weeks.

“IS in southern Damascus has fired rockets intermittently on the capital” since April 19 when pro-government forces ramped up their fight against the jihadists, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The Damascus regime set its sights on Yarmuk and nearby areas after retaking the former rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta east of the capital last month. </s> Damascus: Several people were killed and others wounded on Sunday when a suicide bombing struck an eastern district of Damascus, Syrian state television reported.

It said security forces intercepted three suicide car bombers on Sunday morning, blowing up two at the entrance to the city.

The third was able to enter Damascus and blew himself up after being surrounded, causing several deaths and leaving a number of people wounded.

Further details were not immediately available. </s> ALEPPO, Syria — A car bomb blew up Sunday in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, killing three civilians and wounding more than 25 others a day after two lethal blasts in the capital, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in a statement updating an earlier report to give the casualty toll, said the bomb struck near the city’s political security offices.

In Damascus, state news agency SANA said a “terrorist” car bomb exploded between two residential buildings in the Sulaiymaniyah district of Aleppo, without giving an immediate report of casualties.

The attack left dead and wounded, state television reported, without giving a precise casualty toll. It showed footage of damaged buildings and destroyed cars.

Activists in Aleppo, the target of car bombings Feb. 10 that killed 28 people, said in Beirut on Skype that the latest blast rocked the city at 12:50pm local time.

On Saturday, twin car bomb blasts killed 27 people and wounded 140 others in the heart of Syria’s capital, the interior ministry said, blaming “terrorists” for the attacks near police and air force headquarters. </s> Militants struck at the tower in the central Marjeh Square district

Two people were killed and several others wounded in a car bomb and shellfire in Syria’s capital Damascus on Wednesday, state television said.

“Two killed and 14 injured in terrorist attacks on Damascus Tower and Maysat Square,” it reported.

They struck at the tower in the central Marjeh Square district, and the car bomb went off in the northeast of the city.

Images of security forces gathered around a burnt-out skeleton of a car in Maysat Square were broadcast on state television.

The blast came as regime forces battle to flush out ISIS from the southern districts of the capital, including Yarmouk and the adjacent Hajar Al Aswad neighbourhood.

In this photo, released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, smoke rises after shelling, apparently by ISIS, in Damascus on May 9. AP

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, says ISIS fighters have previously targeted the capital in recent weeks.

"ISIS in southern Damascus has fired rockets intermittently on the capital" since April 19 when pro-government forces ramped up their fight against the extremists, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The Damascus regime set its sights on Yarmouk and nearby areas after retaking the former rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta east of the capital last month.

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Fresh Israel missile attack targets Iran base in Syria

Israeli minister threatens Assad over any Iranian attacks from Syria

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Meanwhile, at least 15 people were killed in a suspected Israeli attack on Iranian military facilities in south of Damascus on Tuesday, the Observatory said.

“The number increased to at least 15, including at least eight Iranian, killed by the missile strikes,” it said on Wednesday.

The strikes hit an arms depot of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards in the Kiswa area late on Tuesday.

This photo, released by SANA, shows damage inside an office that was hit by shelling. AP

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin and discuss military co-ordination amid the new strikes.

"The meetings between us are always important and this one is especially so," Mr Netanyahu said ahead of his departure. "In light of what is currently happening in Syria, it is necessary to ensure the continued co-ordination" between the two militaries. He made no mention of the overnight strikes.

Israeli officials have repeatedly said that they were concerned over Iran’s presence in Syria, where, like Moscow, Tehran backs President Bashar Al Assad.

Israel has in the past been accused of carrying out deadly strikes in Syria, with reports of Iranian forces killed but has not acknowledged those strikes. It has, however, admitted to carrying out dozens of raids in Syria to allegedly stop deliveries of arms to the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militia, which is also fighting alongside the Assad forces. </s> BEIRUT — Syrian opposition activists are reporting that a car bomb in a northern town held by Turkey-backed fighters has killed at least 13, and wounded dozens of people.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 14 people were killed, and dozens wounded in the Sunday night blast in the centre of the town, Azaz.

The Azaz Media Center, a local activist collective, said the blast killed at least 13 people and wounded many others.

The blast occurred after the “iftar” meal that breaks a daylong fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The town, which was once controlled by rival Kurdish fighters opposed to Turkey, has been hit by similar attacks in the past. </s> Damascus — A suicide car bomber pursued by security forces blew himself up in eastern Damascus on Sunday, with a monitor reporting 18 killed in the deadliest attack to hit the Syrian capital in months.

Syrian state media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said security forces intercepted three car bombers on their way into the city early on Sunday morning.

State television said two of the vehicles were blown up on the outskirts of the city.

A third managed to reach the eastern Tahrir Square district, where he was surrounded but able to detonate a bomb.

The Observatory, a Britain-based monitor, said 18 people were killed in the bombing, including at least seven members of pro-regime security forces and two civilians. It had not identified the remaining victims. Syrian state news agency SANA quoted an interior ministry statement as saying two of the vehicles had been "destroyed" at a roundabout on the road to the city’s airport.

The driver of the third blew himself up while being pursued, it said, "killing a number of civilians, injuring others, and causing material damage to public and private properties." An AFP correspondent at Tahrir Square saw extensive damage to nearby buildings. Two bombed-out cars were visible to one side of the square, which was strewn with debris.

A woman was crying in an apartment near the site of the attack. Her balcony had collapsed and the living room was a mess of broken glass and shattered masonry, with pictures and curtains strewn across the floor. The woman said her daughter had been taken to hospital after being injured by flying glass.

Tahrir Square resident Mohammad Tinawi told AFP that he had heard "gunfire at around 6.00am, then an explosion which smashed the glass of houses in the neighbourhood." He said he had seen Red Crescent volunteers treating two wounded soldiers. A shopkeeper confirmed that the explosion had gone off at around 6.00am.

Damascus has been spared the large-scale battles that have devastated other major Syrian cities during the country’s six-year civil war.

But dozens of people have been killed in bombings, particularly on the outskirts of the capital.

In mid-March, bomb attacks on a courthouse and restaurant in central Damascus killed 32 people. That rare assault in the heart of the city, which remains under government control, was claimed by the Islamic State group. That came days after two explosions that left 74 dead in the capital’s Old City and were claimed by the Tahrir al-Sham coalition led by the jihadist Fateh al-Sham Front.

Battlefronts around Damascus have calmed since a May deal that saw opposition fighters withdraw from several neighbourhoods, along with a separate agreement on "de-escalation" zones — including one in a rebel stronghold just outside the capital.

Syria’s conflict broke out with anti-government protests in 2011, but has since evolved into a multi-front war that has killed more than 320,000 people.
A car bomb and shellfire hit Marjeh Square in Damascus, Syria, killing two people and injure 14 others.