Ordnance from Syria’s 13-year conflict explodes in port city, killing at least 16 people

In this photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, members of their team search through the debris of a four-story building after an ordnance from Syria's 13-conflict exploded in the coastal city of Latakia, Syria, early Sunday, March 16, 2025. 2025. The White Helmets said it worked overnight and recovered 16 bodies. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)

DAMASCUS, Syria — Ordnance from Syria’s 13-year conflict exploded in the coastal city of Latakia, collapsing a building and killing more than a dozen people, the Syrian Civil Defense said Sunday.

The paramedic group, known as the White Helmets, said it worked overnight, searching through debris and recovered 16 bodies, including five women and five children, and that 18 others were injured. The group and residents said the explosion occurred in a metal scrap storage space on the ground floor of the four-story building.

The United Nations said in February that about a hundred have been killed from exploding ordnance during the last 13 years, adding that since the ouster of Bashar Assad in December, over 1,400 unexploded devices across Syria have been safely disposed of and 138 minefields and contaminated areas identified in Idleb, Aleppo, Hama, Deir-ez-Zor and Lattakia.

Latakia, a key port city, and Syria’s coastal province recently witnessed a surge in violence, after gunmen loyal to Assad ambushed a security patrol. While the government’s counter-offensive, alongside allied factions, crushed the insurgency, it led to widespread destruction and numerous cases of retaliatory attacks against members of the Alawite community, which the Assad family is part of.

The clashes and revenge killings led to the deaths of more than 1,000 people.

The Associated Press