An explosion at an arms depot near the Syrian capital Damascus has killed 11 people, a war monitor announced, weeks after rebels ousted longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, AFP reports.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the cause of the blast in the Adra industrial zone, about 30 km from Damascus, was "probably" an Israeli strike.
However, an Israeli military source said in Jerusalem that the army had "not struck in that area".
An official from the nearby area, who requested anonymity, said that an "explosion of unknown origin" had rocked the Adra industrial area, mentioning an unspecified number of casualties and adding that rescue operations were underway.
The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, stated that "at least 11 people were killed in an explosion possibly caused by an Israeli strike on an arms depot belonging to the Assad regime" in the Adra area.
An Israeli military source said, "We are not aware of any IDF strikes in the area. The IDF has not carried out any strikes in the area."
Abdel Rahman added that the dead were "mostly civilians," adding that after Assad's ouster, some civilians in the impoverished country had headed to former military positions looking for "anything they can sell," including metal.
Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian military sites after Islamist-led rebels toppled Assad on December 8, saying its aim was to prevent them falling into enemy hands. | BGNES
