14 Lost Their Lives in Weapons Depot Explosion Near Syria's Sarmada

<p>At least 14 people lost their lives and 11 others were injured on Wednesday after an explosion tore through a temporary weapons depot near Sarmada, a city in Syria's Idlib province, according to Syrian state television.</p>
<p>The blast struck a storage site in Burj al-Nimra village in the northern Idlib countryside. Thick smoke from the resulting fire billowed from the site for hours. Secondary explosions hampered firefighting teams, preventing them from fully containing the blaze.</p>
<p>Syria's Defence Ministry confirmed that some of its personnel were among those injured, according to Reuters. Emergency teams were immediately dispatched to the scene and are continuing to search for survivors trapped under rubble. An Associated Press photographer at the scene reported seeing remains recovered from the site.</p>
<p>The destroyed depot was used to store weapons and munitions from the Syrian uprising and civil war, which lasted from 2011 to 2024, according to the Defence Ministry as cited by the SANA state news agency. Authorities have not clarified what caused the explosion.</p>
<p>Such incidents are not uncommon across Syria, which has only recently emerged from more than a decade of conflict. On September 1, a separate explosion involving a vehicle carrying ammunition occurred in Binnish, also in Idlib province, claiming five lives and injuring others, according to Syrian state media.</p>