Al-Qaeda Suicide Bomber Attacks Syrian Capital, Wounds General

Nusra Forces Target Military Logistics Site

A group of three fighters from al-Qaeda’s Jabhat al-Nusra, including a suicide bomber, carried out an attack today in the Syrian capital of Damascus, targeting a military logistics site in the the Rokn al-Deen neighborhood.

Overall casualties are still unclear, though reports are that the suicide bomber targeted the general responsible for the site, wounding him and two of his guards, and killing one other guard in the blast.

Syrian state media reported that the troops quickly killed the other two attackers, and did not mention any  casualties other than that, and Hezbollah’s own media reported only that the assassination attempt had “failed.”

The al-Qaeda fighters appear to have infiltrated the neighborhood through an agricultural district held by another rebel faction, likely to spark a new round of Syrian military attempts to retake that district.

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.