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Blast outside a Syrian defense ministry building kills a soldier, wounds 12 people

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A bomb exploded outside a Defense Ministry building in the Syrian capital on Tuesday, killing one soldier and wounding about a dozen other people, the ministry and state media reported.

The Defense Ministry said in a terse statement that soldiers discovered a bomb that was ready to be detonated in the central Bab Sharqi district of Damascus. As they were dismantling it, a car exploded nearby, killing a member of the military and wounding the others.

The ministry said the blast occurred outside a building linked to the Defense Ministry but gave no further details.

State TV reported that the blast killed one person and wounded 12 others, including civilians.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but such attacks in the past have been blamed on the Islamic State group.

IS has claimed such attacks since the Assad family was removed from power after five decades of rule by insurgent groups that marched into Damascus in December 2024.

Iran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait following US strikes, threatens to end talks to end the war

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to U.S. airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” could come to negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks. Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas, without Iran's direct oversight sparked the crossfire now gripping the region. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand a route near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic — setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran. Iran insists it alone must govern the strait after the war, upending decades of the world considering that the strait was international waters free for all, despite its sitting in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. Tehran has twice attacked vessels going through the Oman route, backed by a United Nations agency, in recent days. Early Sunday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea early Saturday morning. That ship, the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key negotiator between Iran and the United States.
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