The Sayida Zeinab shrine in Damascus has previously been targeted by Islamic State and other armed groups in Syria.

Syrian authorities foiled an attempt by Islamic State militants to blow up a revered Shia shrine on the outskirts of Damascus, state news agency SANA reported.

Intelligence and security forces ‘succeeded in thwarting ISIS bombing attempts in Syria’ Sayida Zeinab Shrine”A source in Syria’s intelligence agency told SANA on Saturday, adding that several people had been arrested.

“The General Intelligence Service is using all its resources to counter all attempts against the Syrian people,” the intelligence official told SANA.

The interior ministry posted photos of four men it said were members of the Islamic State group who were arrested in the countryside outside the capital.

It also released images of equipment it said had been seized from the suspects, including a smartphone, two rifles, three explosive devices and several grenades.

The photo shows the identity documents of two Lebanese and a Palestinian refugee living in Lebanon.

“The holy site they are trying to target is in the southern suburbs of Damascus,” Al Jazeera’s Hamza Mohammed reported from Damascus.

“This is an important religious site for Shiite Muslims. They believe the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad is buried there.”

Mohammed noted that this was not the first time the temple had been targeted.

“In 2008, there was a car bomb incident… that killed 17 people,” he said.

Previously, the Islamic State also targeted the Holy Land in Damascus, Syria’s most visited Shia pilgrimage site, claiming responsibility for two suicide attacks near the mausoleum in February 2016, which killed 134 people.

The group also claimed that a triple explosion near the reserve a few weeks ago killed at least 70 people.

An explosion in July 2023 killed at least six people near the mausoleum.

In Syria and neighboring Iraq, Shiite holy sites have been frequent targets of attacks by Sunni groups such as the Islamic State.

Iranian-backed guards have been deployed at the entrance to Sayida Zenab’s mausoleum in the past, but they fled last month, shortly before Sunni-led rebels swept through the Syrian capital and toppled President Bashar Assad.

Iran-backed militants have been Assad’s main backers since the war began in 2011.