At Least 16 Killed in Series of Damascus Bombing Attacks

Attacks Continue in High Security Neighborhoods

Despite beefed up security, car bombings continue with alarming regularity in Syria’s capital city of Damascus, with three bombings hitting the Hai al-Wuroud district, near a key military barracks, and another bombing hitting near a power station.

The preliminary death toll in the attacks is at least 16 killed and many dozen others wounded, though some reports say a large number of people were buried under debris of an apartment complex, and rescue efforts have struggled with a power outage, so the final number could be much higher.

So far there has been no claim of responsibility for today’s attacks, though al-Nusra has been blamed for a number of suicide bombings in recent weeks and seems the most likely culprit for these as well.

The fact that such high security neighborhoods continue to be pounded not just by the highly organization assassination-bombings of groups like the FSA but also the random chaos-causing bombings in neighborhoods seen as “pro-regime” suggests that security is continuing to deteriorate, and that the escalation is going to continue for the foreseeable future.

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.