Overview
- The Interior Ministry said it had prior intelligence of Islamic State plans to strike New Year's gatherings and churches, prompting extra patrols, checkpoints and church protection.
- In Aleppo's Bab al-Faraj area, a police patrol approached a suspect and one officer restrained him before he detonated an explosive belt, authorities said.
- One member of the security forces was killed and two others were wounded, with a security perimeter established and forensic and criminal inquiries continuing.
- Officials said the suspect was believed to have ISIS links and appeared to be trying to enter a Christian neighborhood, though no group has claimed responsibility for the blast.
- The incident followed the bombing of an Alawite mosque in Homs that killed at least eight people, as Syrian and international forces intensified operations against ISIS cells.