Shiite preacher wounded in Damascus attack: monitor

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A prominent Shiite preacher on Friday was severely wounded following a grenade attack near the symbolic Sayyida Zaynab shrine in Damascus, according to a war monitor.

“An assassination operation was carried out targeting a member of the Shiite sect's scholarly body and Friday sermon preacher, Farhan Mansour, following an attack launched by unknown assailants in the Sayyida Zaynab area in Damascus countryside,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

Since the fall of the Assad regime in late 2024, minorities in Syria have faced escalating sectarian violence, including targeted massacres of Alawites and deadly clashes in Druze-majority areas. Religious sites have also come under attack, including the bombing of the Mar Elias Church in Damascus in June.

SOHR cited sources as saying that a hand grenade was thrown into Mansour’s car near the Safir al-Zahra hotel after he left the shrine. The explosion left him with “very critical injuries,” and he was transferred to a hospital, with his fate still unknown. The monitor added that security forces imposed a strict cordon around the site of the attack.

State media cited security forces as confirming the attack in the area with a grenade and said investigations are ongoing to identify the suspect, but did not report any casualties or injuries.

Earlier in June, Syrian security forces said they had dismantled an Islamic State (ISIS) cell responsible for the Mar Elias church bombing, adding that the group had been on its way to the Sayyida Zaynab shrine to carry out another attack.

The shrine, located south of Damascus, is one of the most important Shiite holy sites and is believed to house the tomb of Zaynab, granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad and daughter of Imam Ali.

For years, the shrine was guarded by pro-Iran armed groups under the Bashar al-Assad regime. After the Sunni Islamist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group led a coalition of rebels that overthrew Assad and formed a new government in Damascus, the shrine saw a sharp decline in visitors.

Following the collapse of the Assad regime, Jamal Awad, head of the Sayyida Zaynab shrine, told Rudaw there was no danger facing the shrine or the surrounding area and that coordination was underway with the new authorities to secure the site amid the unrest.