At least 44 people were killed and over 100 injured today when a pair of suicide car bombers detonated in front of the headquarters of two of the top spy agencies in the country. State TV was quick to blame al-Qaeda for the attacks.
The attacks targeted the General Intelligence Agency headquarters as well as the local branch of the military intelligence agency in Damascus. In addition to killing employees a number of bystanders were also reported slain.
The attacks come after a particularly violent series of moves by the regime against military defectors and public protesters. It also comes just hours after the advance team of Arab League monitors arrived to confirm the situation on the ground.
The bombings were the first of their kind since pro-democracy rallies began in Syria early this year, and are the latest indication that the nation is rapidly falling into a full-scale civil war. So far no group has claimed credit for the bombing, and it would be unusual for any of the existing opposition factions to launch this sort of attack.
This is a civil war and as such is none or our business or the UN's business.
"it would be unusual for any of the existing opposition factions to launch this sort of attack."
Says who?
i have been saying for months that infiltrators from Saudi and jordan and other US allied countries have been flocking to Syria with weapons and causing trouble to make it look like Syrian forces are killing civilians. They often kill innocents and blame it on the Syrian military. They start crossfires between demonstrators and police to get them to shoot at eachother so western media thinks there is some kind of genuine civil war going on…
This bombing proves what I have been saying? Where did the suicide bombers and the explosives come from? These are saudi jihadists perpetrating these violent acts with the full support of the royal family and even CIA, Mossad, MI6 help….
lastly, what is happening in Syria has nothing to do with Syria itself, Assad, or some phoney boloney arab spring. This is just one battlefield in the war to destroy Iran..Full stop!
Right…cuz it's not like the Syrian military would ever kill its own people, would they?
I guess Hama was leveled by a secret IDF unit in 1982.
Do the Syrian protestors in Homs know that they're nothing but brainwashed CIA dupes who have no reason in the world to oppose their benevolent regime? One wonders…
I did not say that and this is NOT 1982 and bashar Assad is not his father…..
ALso, homs is not the only city is syria, how come the rest of the country, in particular, the capital, damascus, had been quiet until these bombings?..
there is much more nuance in this than i suppose you can understand given your limited knowledge of the situation and in particular why homs is a hotbed.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
This is Antiwar.com,God forbid there ever be an anti-American regime on this planet that EVER attacks its "own" people.It's ALWAYS Mossad and CIA behind these attacks don't you know?
Well said, baz.
It looks like the bombings were pretty sophisticated. Are there any countries in the region who might benefit from Syria collapsing in chaos, like Libya has done?
Yes, Israel will benefit; so will the U.S. They're both after weakening Iran.
Well the BS Beat Just Goes On…
Here at antiwar.com…
Now the country is “rapidly falling into a full-scale civil war,” the erudite Mr. Ditz informs his readers…
Gee whiz professor…how did that come about…?
Couldn’t have had anything to do with the US media (and antiwar.com) banging the drum on the side of the government opponents…?…Could it…?
Of course that civil war was nowhere on the radar screen weeks ago as readers of this “antiwar” site spoke loudly and clearly that armed insurrection was taking place… alongside “peaceful demonstrations…”
Well let us just watch now as the situation deteriorates…?…we can look forward to another sectarian bloodbath…
Suicide bombers you say…how pleasant to wake up to that news in your morning coffee…?…Thanks antiwar…
FOR BEING ON THE SIDE OF SUICIDE BOMBERS
But of course there is no “linkage…”…no siree Bob…no linkage at all if you please…
Just keep reminding us of that professor…we need to be steered into the right direction…being clueless antiwar readers and all…
Yay… suicide bombers…Boo… Assad…do I have it right now…?
Oh and btw Mr. Knapp…where do I sign up to get a paycheck from Mr. Assad…?
Hillary Clinton accuses the Syrian govt in 3..2..1..
There were bombings in Syria a couple of years ago although I don’t think they were suicide bombings.
Important points not mentioned is the fact NATO has set up a military base across the border in Turkey training Syrian defectors and foreign mercenaries to launch attacks inside Syria and back when this “uprising” started Muslim Brotherhood terrorists crossing the border from Turkey into Syria were causing chaos and attacking Syrian military and police.
http://youtu.be/XNzSmIdr3JY
The “Al Qaeda” terrorist commander of the Libyan armed forces is in Turkey and Syria helping arm and train fighters to attack Syrian military and law enforcement personnel.
http://www.voltairenet.org/Free-Syrian-Army-comma…
Excellent comments here by Baz and John UK…underlining once again…as if more proof were needed that this is a dirty regime-change operation and full-blown insurgency orchestrated by US and its Mideast stooges…without any regard to the innocent Syrians who get in the crossfire…
To characterize this as some sort of popular movement for freedom and democracy that the Western public should support is simply a CRIME…
But just to address the point (if you can call it that) by Jan Burton…who is quick to condemn the Syrian military as quite capable and wiling of atrocities…she mentions Hama a generation ago…where there was an Islamist rebellion that was crushed by the senior Assad…
And rightly so…then, like now, these Islamist extremists do not represent anyone other than foreign sponsors of terrorism like Saudi Arabia, the US etc…
But even setting all of that aside, the issue here is why should we support and cheer the tearing down of a nation…?…Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union 20 years ago we have seen nothing but various civil wars, all of them the direct result of US meddling…
First there was Yugoslavia…a country which I visited and spent a month in in the 1980s…and will always remember as an amazing place full of wonderful people all of whom got along great, with no ethnic divisions whatsoever…
But it had to be torn down…by the US, Germany and others…How…?…In every country there are ethnic tensions under the surface…there is no place on earth that is entirely homogenous including the US…
Anybody can start trouble by igniting dormant rivalries, tensions and grievances…this is what the US did in Yugoslavia…then moved on and repeated this same blueprint of tearing down a perfectly peaceful society in Iraq, in Libya and elsewhere…
All the while the disgusting media keeps harping about how the "regime" in the targeted country is evil and that the people deserve better…well even if this were true…and this simplistic story is very far from the full truth… it does not justify igniting civil war or sectarian strife…
Saddam was no angel…but the country lived in peace and relative prosperity for decades…until the US decided to intervene…first by using Saddam as a stooge to fight a proxy war against Iran…and then by destroying the country with war, sanctions and finally an invasion that brought open sectarian war between Sunni and Shia…
The result is a country destroyed completely and utterly…Why in God's name…?…For what…?…to get rid of one man…whom many ordinary people actually supported because they could go about their lives normally…go to work…to school…have homes…medical care…electricity…
How would you like it if someone took away all of those things from you so you could be "free…?"
Yugoslavia utterly destroyed…Iraq utterly destroyed…then quickly the sights of Nato and the western media turn to Libya…a prosperous country with a mostly benevolent leader who gave his people free education through the PhD level, excellent free medical care, subsidized housing and many other benefits…and who also helped the Black African continent shake free of exploitation of the colonial Europe by launching Africa's own communications satellite (freeing these poor people from hundreds of millions in usurious fees from Europe), launching an African development fund…and many more initiatives…
Once again the Junyard Dog media leapt into action Howling with rage against this "tyrant" and "dictator…"…screaming in self-righteous hysteria about the "responsibility to protect…"…As if…
Look at Libya now…yet one more broken and destroyed society…hundreds killed by Nato bombs…infrastructure wrecked…homes wrecked…people's jobs gone…social benefits gone…medical care…who knows…?…education…?…who knows…?
Important thing is that now there are Nato stooges in place who a few months ago were Akl Quaeda card-carrying members…
Now it is time for Syria to get the same "freedom" treatment…right…?
Plese tell me antiwar…how is it going to be different this time…?…I have not been back to Yugoslavia since the Nato destruction of that country began nearly 20 years ago…and I have no desire to visit…I know what I will see and it will be heartbreaking because it will not be the prosperous vibrant, healthy and beautiful country I fell in love with more than 25 years ago…
When will Iraq ever be a normal country again…?…When will those millions of Iraqis ever wake up to a normal day and go to work or school like we do everyday without worrying about being blown to pieces by a suicide bomb in the middle of the street…?…When will four or five million Iraqi refugees who have lost their homes ever have their own roof over their heads again…?…in their own country, not huddling in some filthy refugee camp in Jordan, Syria or elswhere…?
But of course all of this does not matter and is never heard neither in the MSM nor here on this "antiwar" website…where we have been treated to months of cheer leading for yet another US led operation to utterly destroy a country and its people…
This is tit for tat by the unseen hand of US/Israel/NATO.
A few days ago Syrian forces successfully pre-empted an attempt to establish a 'beach-head' sanctuary along the Turkish border by foreign backed mercenaries. Many were killed (reportedly over 100) and several captured. This was supposed to be the beginning of 'safe havens' that would fall nicely under the eye (and control) of the Arab League monitors.
Not to be had, now we see the vengeance of the west for Syria's successful defense of its territory.
Just as in Iraq, unclaimed bombings will likely become a preffered western strategy. Expect to see more of the same!
btw,,
where is the US state department after these bombings? their silence is atrocious. is hilary not going to condemn these acts of terror and demand a UN investigation??
Our silence is the biggest giveaway of our hypocrisy and immorality and I for one am sick of it
Some sources in the Middle East claim that the U.S. was behind the explosions in Iraq and Syria because:
1.It wanted to get revenge for being forced out of Iraq, and
2.Wanted to show that Iraqis are unable to provide for their own security.
It appears that with 15,000 soldiers still left in Iraq, still more explosions will follow, the sources said.