Blast in Syria’s Idlib province kills at least four people

Health Ministry says four killed, 116 others wounded after explosion in Maarat Misrin in the northern Idlib countryside.

At least four people have been killed and more than 100 others were wounded in an explosion in Idlib province, northwestern Syria, state news agency SANA reported.

In a statement on Thursday, carried by SANA, Syria’s Ministry of Health said that the explosion occurred in the town of Maarat Misrin in the northern Idlib countryside.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.

The ministry said that “four people were killed and 116 others were wounded,” according to a preliminary death toll.

The Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, said at least six people were killed in the blast.

“This is the death toll only of those recovered by Syria Civil Defence teams, who continue to search for those trapped under the rubble,” the White Helmets said in a statement.

Raed Al-Saleh, Syria’s minister of emergency and disaster management, said in a post on X that the country’s Civil Defence teams rushed to the scene of the blast and were working in dangerous and complex conditions.

He said the teams were carrying out evacuation and rescue operations amid ongoing secondary blasts.

Saleh urged residents to avoid the site for their own safety.

The blast was the third in the region this month. Earlier in July, two explosions rocked the Kafriya and al-Fu’ah regions.