Over 100 Slain as Car Bombs Strike Damascus

Bombings Target Druze, Christian Neighborhoods

At least 104 people have been killed in Syria today, the vast majority of them civilians killed in a pair of car bombings in Druze neighborhoods in the capital city of Damascus. The larger of the two bombings killed 57 people and wounded dozens of others.

So far no group has claimed credit for the attacks, but the smart money is on the Islamist rebel factions, who have regularly launched bombs in neighborhoods they perceive as “pro-regime.” The Druze elders have reported seen several threats from rebel blocs ahead of the attack.

Syrian state media also reported two other smaller bombings around the capital, though neither of these appear to have killed anybody and simply caused damage to some buildings. Other fighting was reported in the far north, though the bulk of the deaths were in the bombings, not the fighting.

The Red Cross has issued a statement criticizing both rebels and regime in the civil war for paying “little regard” to the safety of civilians. Both sides regularly accuse the other of massacres, and the overwhelming majority of the dead in the war are not combatants, but bystanders.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.