A fuel tanker collided with two passenger buses and other cars on the Damascus-Homs highway, the Sham FM radio broadcaster reported, citing a source from the police in the Damascus province.
The reason for the collision was a brake failure, SANA reported, citing Interior Minister Mohammad Khaled al-Rahmoun. Another 70 people were injured in the accident, he added.
According to the news report, Damascus Countryside Governor Alaa Ibrahim said that police units and ambulances were put on full alert, and they transported the injured to hospitals and provided first aid to the victims on the scene.
The crash is believed to have taken the lives of Iraqi Shiite pilgrims who were on the way to holy shrines near the capital.
Holy sites in Syria remain to be popular among Shiite pilgrims despite an eight-year war that has displaced millions. Syria descended into foreign-backed civil conflicts in 2011 on the wave of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ protests rocking the Middle East.