Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), said the blast occurred in a residential building in town of Sarmada near the border with
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
, and caused two buildings to collapse.
Abdel Rahman highlighted that the corpse count was expected to further rise as scores of people remained trapped under rubble and tens of people remain unaccounted for.
The Observatory added that the ammunition depot belonged to an arms dealer working with the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham
, commonly referred to as Tahrir al-Sham, terrorist group, and was situated in the Bab al-Hawa neighborhood of Sarmada.| The Times of Israel adds: |
In recent months, a series of kabooms and liquidations ‐ mainly targeting rebel officials and fighters ‐ have rocked the province.
While some attacks have been claimed by IS, most are the result of infighting since last year between various other groups.