At least 35 people have been killed and 30 others injured after two buses collided on the Damascus–Deir Ezzor highway in central-eastern Syria on Saturday. The crash, described by officials as one of the deadliest road accidents the country has seen in recent years, involved a bus carrying internal security forces personnel and a civilian passenger bus. The collision occurred in a desert stretch of road between Al-Sukhnah and Palmyra — an ancient city in the Homs governorate — and footage broadcast by state television showed one of the buses engulfed in flames, with debris scattered across the highway.

The Syrian government mobilised a large emergency response. Military helicopters airlifted casualties from the scene to Homs Military Hospital, while civil defence teams and ambulances rushed to the site. The health ministry placed hospitals in both Deir Ezzor and Homs provinces on full alert, and the higher education minister directed all university hospitals across the country to raise their readiness levels. Interior Minister Anas Khattab expressed grief over the losses, writing on social media: