Syria has seen a series of explosions at weapons and ammunition depots this month, and the country’s Defence Ministry says it is investigating the causes.

The latest blast hit an arms depot in al-Eis, south of Aleppo, in the early hours of Monday and injured at least four people, according to Al Jazeera. On Friday, an explosion in Ayyash, west of Deir ez-Zor, killed 11 military personnel, according to the Defence Ministry, cited by Syria’s state SANA news agency, which said the funeral for the dead was held on Saturday. On 9 September, another explosion at a temporary weapons and war-remnants depot in Sarmada, in Idlib province, killed 14 soldiers and wounded more than ten people, including civilians, according to the ministry. Al Jazeera cites a Reuters tally showing at least 16 similar explosions have hit arms storage facilities since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. Some of the incidents have been attributed to poor storage conditions; analysts interviewed by Al Jazeera disagree on the causes and say there is so far no evidence of sabotage.