HOLGER AWAKENS
Whoa! Two huge bombings in Damascus, Syria today killed at least 27 people and wounded close to 100 as the Assad regime is getting it on all sides - they have rebels fighting them in the outskirt cities and towns and it appears that al Qaeda in Iraq has come over the border to join the fight as these twin bombings are absolutely the trademark of al Qaeda.
SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 2012
From the report at The New York Daily News:Syrian state television says at least 27 people were killed and 97 wounded in twin car bomb blasts that hit intelligence and security buildings in the Syrian capital on Saturday.
I'm going to make a prediction - Bashir Assad is going to fall and it will happen before June.
What takes over in Syria is going to be an absolute mess but hey, it's going to give Israel a tremendous break over the next year as one treacherous border shouldn't be nearly as much of a worry.
State TV, citing the health minister, said further body parts had also been found, meaning the toll could rise.As far as Syria in general goes, if Assad could have ruthlessly put down this rebellion he would have done it two months ago - the guy is just about out of options and I do believe his only hope is to call in full support from Iran. And I don't think Iran is willing to send in the kind of troops and visible armaments into this fray.
A Syrian official said there were reports of a third blast targeting a military bus at the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, but there were no details. He asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The bombings were the latest in a string of large-scale suicide attacks targeting the Syrian regime's military installations. The blasts have killed dozens of people since late December.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The government has blamed the explosions on "terrorist forces" that it claims are behind the revolt against President Bashar Assad.
Top U.S. intelligence officials have also pointed to al-Qaida in Iraq as the likely culprit behind previous bombings, raising the possibility its fighters are infiltrating across the border to take advantage of the turmoil. Al-Qaida's leader called for Assad's ouster in February.
I'm going to make a prediction - Bashir Assad is going to fall and it will happen before June.
What takes over in Syria is going to be an absolute mess but hey, it's going to give Israel a tremendous break over the next year as one treacherous border shouldn't be nearly as much of a worry.
Syrian capital Damascus hit by car bomb attacks, at least 27 dead
Syrian state television says at least 27 people were killed and 97 wounded in twin car bomb blasts that hit intelligence and security buildings in the Syrian capital on Saturday.
State TV, citing the health minister, said further body parts had also been found, meaning the toll could rise.
A Syrian official said there were reports of a third blast targeting a military bus at the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, but there were no details. He asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The bombings were the latest in a string of large-scale suicide attacks targeting the Syrian regime's military installations. The blasts have killed dozens of people since late December.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The government has blamed the explosions on "terrorist forces" that it claims are behind the revolt against President Bashar Assad.
Top U.S. intelligence officials have also pointed to al-Qaida in Iraq as the likely culprit behind previous bombings, raising the possibility its fighters are infiltrating across the border to take advantage of the turmoil. Al-Qaida's leader called for Assad's ouster in February.
A suspected al-Qaida presence creates new obstacles for the U.S., its Western allies and Arab states trying to figure out a way to help push Assad from power, and may also rally Syrian religious minorities, fearful of Sunni radicalism, to get behind the regime.
The Syrian opposition has denied any link to al-Qaida and accuses forces loyal to the government of being behind the bombings to tarnish the uprising.
According to the state-run news agency, SANA, preliminary information indicated two blasts were caused by car bombs that hit the aviation intelligence department and the criminal security department at around 7:30 a.m local time. Shooting broke out soon after the blast and sent residents and others who had gathered in the area fleeing, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said.
SANA posted gruesome photographs of the scene Saturday, with mangled and charred corpses, bloodstains on the streets and twisted steel.
"All our windows and doors are blown out," said Majed Seibiyah, 29, who lives in the area. "I was sleeping when I heard a sound like an earthquake. I didn't grasp what was happening until I hear screaming in the street."
The Syrian government denies there is a popular will behind the uprising, saying foreign extremists and gangs are trying to destroy the country. But his opponents deny that and say an increasingly active rebel force has been driven to take up arms because the government used tanks, snipers and machine guns to crush peaceful protests.
The U.N. estimates that more that 8,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad began last March.
The last major suicide bombing in Syria happened on Feb. 10, when twin blasts struck security compounds in the government stronghold of Aleppo in northern Syria, killing 28 people. Damascus, another Assad stronghold, has seen three suicide previous bombings since December.
In recent weeks, Syrian forces have waged a series of heavy offensives against the main strongholds of the opposition — Homs in central Syria, Idlib in the north and Daraa in the south.
The bloodshed fuels the country's sectarian tensions. The military's top leadership is stacked heavily with members of the minority Alawite sect, to which Assad and the ruling elite belong.
Sunnis are the majority in the country of 22 million and make up the backbone of the opposition.
Diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis have so far brought no result. But U.N. envoy Kofi Annan told the Security Council in a briefing Friday that he would return to Damascus even though his recent talks with Assad saw no progress in attempts to cobble together peace negotiations between the two sides.