DAMASCUS: A crash between two passenger buses in a central-eastern desert region of Syria on Saturday killed at least 35 people, state media said.

News agency SANA, quoting a health ministry official, also said 30 others were injured in the “collision between two passenger buses on the Damascus-Deir Ezzor road”.

The interior ministry said the crash was between “a bus carrying a number of internal security forces personnel and a civilian bus”.

State media broadcast footage of the crash, including images of a bus on fire and with debris strewn along the highway, and reported that military helicopters had been deployed to airlift casualties from the scene.

Minister Raed Al Saleh described the crash as “one of the deadliest road accidents in Syria in recent years in terms of the number of victims”.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2026