The explosion of a grenade that an element of the National Defense Militia possessed led to his injury and seven other persons, including three women, on a bus near the Al-Baath University, the city of Homs, the field researcher of Syrians for Truth and Justice/STJ in the city reported.
On November 13, 2018, STJ’s field researcher in the city of Homs said that an element of the National Defense Militia, named Yazan Mohammad al-Ibrahim, who is 30-year-old, was boarding a microbus with full military equipment. A grenade, he possessed, exploded on the microbus, leading to the mutilation of one of his limbs and the injury of the following persons: Haddeel shadoud, a 25-year-old, Nahed al-Ahmad, Tony Elias, a 48-year-old, Aya Sulaiman, an 18-year-old, Issa al-Khatib, a 55-year-old, and Nayef Balan.
An eyewitness, a female university student named M.A, told STJ’s field researcher in Homs city the following:
“I was waiting for the microbus near my university at the al-Zahraa neighborhood. Suddenly, an explosion took place only fifty meters away from me. We thought that it was a car bomb, and the people started to shout and run in different directions. I saw some young men getting children out of the microbus, on board of which the explosion happened. The children were crying. And then, the people on the street started to fight and hit each other, disputing over the reason of the explosion.”
According to STJ’s field researcher in the city of Homs, the explicit proliferation of arms phenomenon and showing them around openly in public spaces have both become a normal sight. In addition to this, troops belonging to any security entity or military force do enter the campus with full military equipment without being prevented by the guards at the university’s entrance.