On Thursday a bomb ripped through crowded cafe in central Damascus, killing at least nine people and wounding 22 others, in an attack very near the main entrance of the Palace of Justice - in an area frequented by lawyers, courthouse employees and visitors.
Al Jazeera correspondent Obaida Hitto, who reported from the scene in the aftermath, stated that "The casualties are higher because it is such a busy area." The death toll could rise given that many bystanders are being treated for severe injuries at a Damascus hospital - some in critical condition.
The target was a well-known gathering place for attorneys. "According to lawyers' groups on social media, the names of six lawyers who were killed have been identified, while eight others were injured in the blast," Mohammed al-Tawil, head of the Syrian Bar Association, told Germany's dpa.
And per the NY Times, "Syria’s interior ministry said the blast, near the main courthouse complex in Damascus, had been caused by an explosive device but did not say who was responsible."
The reported noted, "State media published images of bloodied floors and overturned chairs as emergency workers rushed through crowded streets to the scene."
Various jihadi groups, including ISIS, continue to threaten civilians all across the country, a reality which has only expanded in post-Assad Syria, and after the rise of US-backed, self-appointed President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former Al-Qaeda and Islamic State commander.
Government forces under Sharaa have been seen as tolerating and even cooperating at times with ISIS-style terrorist groups. But at the same time the Sharaa regime has sought to present itself to the outside world as 'moderate'.
Sectarian crimes and targeted killings, particularly against Syria's Alawite, Christian, and Druze communities have continued. Euronews reports:
"I ran to the place and saw people lying on the floor with blood pooled around them everywhere," he added, saying the scenes recalled the blasts that Damascus experienced during the nearly 14-year civil war.
Damascus has been the site of multiple attacks and incidents since the new authorities took over following the toppling of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
The deadliest came in June 2025, when an attack on a Damascus church killed 25 people. The suicide attack was later claimed by a Sunni Islamist group, while the authorities blamed it on the Islamic State group.
In the meantime a new parliament is being sworn-in in Damascus, dozens of members which were handpicked by Sharaa. Some are well-known extremists.
"Among the 70 new appointees is Hassan Soufan, who was the head of Ahrar al-Sham, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated extremist group that fought as part of the 14-year CIA-backed insurgency against former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's government," writes Beirut-based The Cradle. The report further says:
While maintaining secular institutions such as a parliament, Syria is unofficially governed by extremist Sunni Muslim religious figures known as “sheikhs” who are embedded within government institutions and public service departments, including police stations, municipalities, and the judiciary.
With Assad gone, mainstream Western press has basically stopped covering events in Syria, even though killings and terrorist attacks have persisted.
At the same time, the country has little in the way of military defenses to speak of, with Israeli bombings having largely wiped out anti-air defenses as well as offensive missile silos.