One dead in Damascus blasts on eve of polls

One person was killed and another wounded as two blasts earlier today hit the Syrian capital, state news agency SANA says, on the eve of the country’s third war-time parliamentary elections.

It says “one person was killed and another wounded in the explosion of two devices near Anas bin Malik mosque” in the Nahr Aisha area of southern Damascus.

There were no immediate details on the blasts near the mosque, where President Bashar al-Assad has attended prayers in the past, or the casualties.

Syrians go to the polls Sunday to elect a new parliament as the Damascus government grapples with international sanctions and a crumbling economy, after retaking large parts of the war-torn country.

Assad’s Baath party and its allies are expected to win most of parliament’s 250 seats, in the first elections since 2016.

For the first time this year, there will be polling stations in former opposition bastions, including in the Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus and in the south of Idlib province in the country’s northwest.

— AFP