Emergency teams evacuated four injured people from an army site near the town of al-Eis in southern Aleppo province after a powerful explosion was followed by a series of successive blasts inside the site on 21 September 2026. The relevant authorities also began evacuating nearby homes as a precaution in case of further developments.
Faisal Mohammed Ali, the operations commander for Aleppo at the Emergency Directorate, said field teams had evacuated the four people injured in the explosion. Circulating video footage showed flames rising from the military site and successive explosions occurring there.
A series of ammunition explosions during September
The al-Eis explosion was part of a series of incidents involving an ammunition-laden vehicle and army weapons and ammunition depots in different areas during September. This sparked debate over why they had recurred within a short period and at geographically distant locations.
The series of incidents began on 1 September, when an ammunition-laden vehicle exploded in the Binnish area of Idlib countryside. On the 9th of the same month, another explosion occurred inside a weapons and ammunition depot near the town of Sarmada in the same countryside. On 12 September, ammunition exploded inside a military depot in the al-Dumayr area of Damascus countryside.
The incident recurred on 18 September inside an ammunition depot in the Ayash area of Deir Ezzor countryside, before the major explosions at an ammunition depot in al-Eis in southern Aleppo countryside on the 21st of the same month.
Doubts over the causes of the repeated explosions
The succession of these incidents led activists and bloggers to question whether they were accidental. Some said that explosions recurring at more than three depots within a short period could indicate that they had been orchestrated or resulted from an act of sabotage. These remain circulating views, however, and no evidence has been presented to establish the cause of the incidents.
Commentators also criticised what they described as “suspicious silence” and delays in official explanations from the Defence Ministry. They said the military institution should have opened a broad investigation after the second explosion and announced its findings publicly to help prevent further incidents and “put its house in order”.
Activists also sent messages to the Defence Ministry saying that remaining silent was no longer an acceptable solution given the seriousness of the incidents and the deaths and injuries they had caused. They called for urgent explanations revealing the actual causes, whether linked to a deliberate act or failures in storage methods, to curb rumours and clarify what could be expected later.
Technical factors and poor ammunition storage
Others following the developments and interested observers, however, urged against rushing to adopt the theory of “systematic sabotage” without tangible evidence. They called for greater attention to complex technical and logistical factors when investigating the causes of the repeated explosions.
Those holding this view pointed to the presence of large quantities of ammunition and military stockpiles in Syria whose production dates back more than 10 years. They had spent that time in unknown storage conditions, including uncertainty over whether those conditions met minimum safety requirements. They also noted that moving, regrouping and storing these stockpiles during the current period strengthened the theory that the ammunition had been affected by poor storage, weather conditions and the passage of time.
According to this view, technical failure may be the most likely explanation for the incidents, without ruling out sabotage, which requires conclusive evidence to prove. The debate over the al-Eis explosions coincides with the Defence Ministry’s announcement that 11 soldiers killed in the explosion at an army site in the Ayash area of western Deir Ezzor province on 18 September would be given a military funeral.
The official funeral ceremony was held on Saturday, departing from the National Hospital in the city of Deir Ezzor, in the presence of a number of official and military leaders.
