BEIRUT: A roadside bomb struck a bus carrying teachers in Manbij killing one person on Saturday, the latest in a spate of attacks in the northern Syrian city since mid-January, a war monitor said.
The device exploded as the bus passed, killing the driver and wounding at least four others, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.
Sherfan Darwish, a spokesman for Manbij's military council, reported on Twitter a "terrorist explosion with an explosive device against a vehicle of teachers".
Manbij is a former Daesh stronghold that is now held by a military council affiliated to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-Arab force that is supported by a US-led coalition.
On January 16, four Americans were among 19 people killed in a suicide attack in the city claimed by Daesh.
On Friday, an explosion wounded a senior leader of the military council as he was on patrol, Abdel Rahman said.
The attacks follow US President Donald Trump's announcement in December that he would withdraw American troops from Syria, as he declared Daesh had been defeated.
After a lightning offensive that saw it seize large swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, the group's self-declared "caliphate" has crumbled under pressure from multiple offensives, but extremists remain able to launch deadly attacks.
Manbij constitutes a major point of contention between Syria's Kurdish minority, which maintains de facto autonomy in parts of northern and northeastern Syria, and neighbouring Turkey.
In December, Ankara threatened to launch a new offensive to dislodge the People's Protection Units (YPG) - a Kurdish militia that forms the backbone of the SDF, but is considered a terrorist group by Turkey - from its borders.
Syria's multi-fronted war has killed more than 360,000 people since it began in 2011 with President Bashar Al-Assad's regime bloodily suppressing protests.
Syria bus attack kills one, wounds four in Manbij
Syria bus attack kills one, wounds four in Manbij
- The device exploded as the bus passed, killing the driver and wounding at least four others
- Manbij is a former Daesh stronghold that is now held by a military council affiliated to the Syrian Democratic Forces
Syrian authorities arrest leader of terrorist cells in Lattakia
- Ali Aziz Sbeira is accused of violating civilians’ rights during the Syrian uprising after 2011
LONDON: Syrian authorities have arrested Ali Aziz Sbeira, a prominent leader of terrorist cells responsible for attacks on internal security checkpoints, the Syrian army and civilians during the country’s uprising against the former regime of Bashar Assad.
The Internal Security Directorate announced on Wednesday the capture of Sbeira in Lattakia province, located on the Mediterranean Sea.
Authorities accuse him of leading and supplying arms to terrorist groups. Hailing from the town of Jableh, Sbeira is also accused of having links to Ghiyath Dalla and Brigadier General Nours Makhlouf, two military figures associated with the former rule of Assad.
Sbeira is accused of violating civilians’ rights during the Syrian uprising after 2011, when he joined the National Defense Militia and helped suppress peaceful demonstrations, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
In 2014, he joined the 4th Armoured Division, which was commanded by Maher Assad, brother of the former president, from 2018 until the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024.
