Mourners bury victims of Damascus cafe bombing with six lawyers among dead 

Syrians have filed through the capital, Damascus, to mourn the victims of a bomb blast that ripped through a cafe, near the Palace of Justice, killing nine people, including six lawyers.

The funeral procession in the normally bustling Midan neighbourhood saw mourners on Friday carry the coffins of three of the dead, as they were laid to rest.

Thursday’s blast, which also wounded 22 people, targeted the Al-Mushairiya Cafe on al-Nasr Street in the al-Hijaz district.
The cafe, located some 70 metres (230 feet) from the Palace of Justice, where several high-profile cases have been held, was a popular gathering spot for legal professionals and court visitors.

Damascus Governor Maher Marwan described the device as “primitive” and promised that perpetrators would face justice.

Six lawyers were among the dead, according to local media. The independent Syrian news outlet Zaman al-Wasl named the lawyers as Muhannad Khalaf, Zuhair Askar, Hossam al-Safadi, Mahmoud al-Shamali, Muhammad Ali al-Shihab, and Eid Muhammad Awad.

The Syrian Bar Association issued a statement mourning “a constellation of its fellow lawyers who were martyred”. It said the lawyers “left us while performing their mission in the justice system” and extended its condolences to their families.

Lawyer Eid Muhammad, a father of six daughters from the village of al-Hajjah in the Quneitra countryside, was reportedly reviewing legal documents at the cafe when the explosion struck. He was the sole breadwinner for his family.

Images of the aftermath of the attack circulated widely on social media, with one photograph showing Muhammad face down in his own blood, still surrounded by the legal documents he had been examining before the explosion.

Mahmoud Ali al-Shihab, 50, from the city of al-Qusayr in the southern Homs countryside, was married and a father of four daughters. Muhammad Saeed al-Shamali was a father of two sons, one of whom also practises law, Zaman al-Wasl reported.

Damascus resident Bahaa Qabbani told The Associated Press that his brother, Fathi Qabbani, who worked close to the targeted cafe, was killed in the blast as he walked by the site.

Qabbani called the perpetrators of the attack “a group of terrorists who are against the homeland,” and called on the country’s security forces to “take hold of the country with an iron fist”.

Syrian authorities said the bomb was planted inside the cafe and later detonated, dismissing social media rumours of a suicide bomber.

Officials have promised to find those behind the attack, but no updates have been announced about the investigation, and no group has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The attack has drawn widespread condemnation from regional governments including Turkiye, Iraq, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan, which expressed solidarity with Syria and reaffirmed their rejection of “terrorism”.

In a statement, the European Union also “strongly condemned” the bombing, describing it as a “terrorist attack” and expressing condolences to the victims and their families.

The attack represents one of the most significant security breaches in the Syrian capital since the new government took power following the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad government in December 2024.

Damascus has witnessed a handful of security incidents in recent months, including a car bomb that killed one Syrian soldier and wounded at least 18 people outside the Ministry of Defence in May.