Syrian army soldiers
Syrian army soldiers
A massive explosion rocked a weapon depot of the Syrian army in the eastern countryside of the northwestern province of Latakia on Wednesday, a monitor group reported.

The blast rocked the weapon depot in the town Slinfah, killing and wounding an unknown number of soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The oppositional UK-based watchdog group said the blast rattled the eastern countryside of Latakia and caused big property losses.

Still, the causes of the blast remained murky, the Observatory added.

Meanwhile, pro-government activists said the blast occurred in an old weapon depot, leaving wounded people only with no casualties.

The activists also shunned aside any possibility of a terror attack in that area.

Latakia, the hometown of President Bashar al-Assad, has returned under the spotlight recently, following drone attacks carried out by rebels on the Russian-run Hmeimim air base in the countryside of Latakia.

The base, which contains a command center for the Russian forces in Syria, has been subject to repeated attacks in recent days.


Comment: The Russian Defense Ministry said that the drones were supplied by foreign countries, and hinted that they've got a pretty good idea of who it was, and perhaps who was behind the explosion in this weapon depot:
More than a dozen drones attacked Russia's military bases along the western coast of Syria over the weekend, an assault that Moscow said it discovered to have foreign fingerprints.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Monday that unknown militants used 10 sophisticated, armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to target the Hmeymim air base located near the Syrian city of Latakia and three more against the naval facility in Tartus. The aircraft was reportedly defeated before inflicting any casualties or damage, but when Russian military experts examined the remote-controlled devices they were said to have used technology that could only have been supplied from one of a limited number of countries. [...]

While the Russian Defense Ministry did not specify which country may have supplied the technology or devices used in last weekend's drone attack, Russia has routinely accused the U.S. of offering support to jihadis such as the Islamic State militant group and other organizations still fighting to overthrow Assad despite him having recaptured most of the country with support from Russia and Iran.

The first major one was earlier this month when mortar shells hit the base and damaged several warplanes.