BEIRUT - At least 25 people were killed and 46 wounded yesterday morning when a bomb exploded in the Syrian capital, marking the second large-scale attack in the city in two weeks and escalating pressure on the Arab League as it prepares to decide whether to extend a monitoring mission in the turbulent country.
State news media reported that a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at a busy intersection in Damascus’s central Midan neighborhood at a time when many people would have been heading to Friday prayers. The perpetrator was not immediately clear: As in the previous attack, officials blamed terrorists, while dissidents said the authorities themselves were responsible. Neither side cited evidence to support its claims....
“I fear that the violence is going to escalate, especially in the absence of any credible dynamic to stop it,’’ said Salman Shaikh of the Brookings Institution in Doha. “The Arab League mission, I believe, has failed.’’
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Qatar’s prime minister, Hamad Bin Jasim al-Thani, told reporters in New York on Wednesday that mistakes had been made during the mission and that he had discussed with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon the possibility of technical help from the world body.
Ausama Monajed, a spokesman for the prominent Syrian National Council opposition party, said he believed yesterday’s attack was staged by Assad’s government to support its argument that the unrest in Syria stems from the actions of extremist groups and armed gangs.
“Of course the Arab League should move to the Security Council,’’ Monajed said. “The violence needs to stop by whatever means necessary.’’
But because a strong Security Council resolution would probably draw vetoes from Syria’s backers Russia and China, he added, the Arab League should make it clear that it would also consider intervening militarily without UN backing.
Protests took place across Syria yesterday, despite further violence that activists said killed 19 people. Although demonstrators say that they are still targeted by snipers if they attend protests, most heavy weapons and uniformed soldiers have been withdrawn from cities in the past two weeks, seemingly in response to the presence of Arab League monitors.
“The Arab League is not professional, and I feel like they are not going to continue the mission,’’ said Omar al-Khani, an opposition activist in Damascus. Still, he said, there has been no shelling in restive cities such as Homs since the monitors arrived and it has been possible to send food and supplies into opposition-dominated areas.
“If the monitors leave, the regime will start the attacks again,’’ he said.
In Midan, residents have described busloads of security forces arriving in the area every Friday, arresting and beating people as they exit mosques.
A Syrian security official told the Associated Press that the target of yesterday’s attack appeared to be a bus carrying police. Most of the casualties were civilians, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency, which also published images of shattered cars and bloodied corpses.
Arab League Deputy Secretary-General Ahmed bin Helli denounced the attack and said its observers would be able to contribute insight, the AP reported.
Two weeks ago, also on a Friday, a double car bombing targeted security buildings in Damascus, killing 44 people, according to Syrian authorities. Such attacks were all but unknown in the capital until then.
Syrian authorities blamed the Dec. 23 bombing on Al Qaeda. But some Western diplomats expressed doubt that Al Qaeda could operate in a country as tightly controlled as Syria and suggested that either opposition groups or Assad’s government were probably responsible for that attack.
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Related: Globe Gift: Syrian Insult
"Thousands mourn deaths of police officers in Syria; Government vows ‘iron fist’ response to security threats" by Albert Aji | Associated Press, January 08, 2012
DAMASCUS - Thousands of regime backers massed at a mosque in the Syrian capital yesterday for funeral prayers for police officers killed in a Damascus bombing, as the government vowed to respond with an “iron fist’’ to security threats....
The government of President Bashar Assad has touted the attacks as proof that it is being targeted by terrorists. But the country’s opposition demanded an independent investigation, accusing forces loyal to the Syrian regime of being behind the bombing to tarnish a 10-month-old uprising against Assad....
Friday’s blast took place in the Midan neighborhood of Damascus, one of the few parts of the heavily controlled capital that has seen protests against the regime....
Thousands of mourners outside the mosque chanted, “Freedom became terrorism. We are not scared of America, the mother of terrorism.’’ Others chanted, “The people want the state of emergency,’’ referring to the decades-old emergency laws that Assad lifted in April as part of reforms he promised.
A group of women wore black shirts emblazoned with Assad’s picture, labeled “the Shield of Syria,’’ as police officers lined up to salute their slain comrades. Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud told reporters inside the mosque that the explosion “is part of the scheme based on terrorism and killing that has been targeting Syria since nine months.’’
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The violence marks a dramatic escalation of bloodshed in Syria as Arab League observers tour the country to investigate Assad’s deadly crackdown on dissent. The monitoring mission will issue its first findings today at a meeting in Cairo.
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Related: Arab League considers extension of Syria mission
"Thousands protest in town held by opposition in Syria" January 21, 2012|By Sarah El Deeb and Zeina Karam
BEIRUT - Buoyed by the opposition’s control of a town near the Syrian capital, thousands of people held antigovernment protests yesterday, chanting for the downfall of the regime. At least eight people were killed by security forces across the country, activists said.
In Egypt, two Arab League officials said the organization is likely to extend its observer mission in Syria, despite complaints from the Syrian opposition that it has failed to curb the bloodshed in the country.
One of the largest demonstrations yesterday was in the mountain town of Zabadani, where some 12,000 people took to the streets to celebrate their success in repelling government troops.
President Bashar Assad’s forces attacked Zabadani, some 17 miles west of the capital, for six days, sparking fierce fighting that involved heavy bombardments and clashes with army defectors.
On Wednesday, government tanks and armored vehicles pulled back, leaving the opposition in control of the town.
“It’s a natural reaction to the victory in Zabadani, it has lifted people’s morale,’’ an activist in the town said of yesterday’s demonstration.
He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The Syrian opposition has on several occasions throughout the uprising gained control of a town or city, but ultimately forces loyal to Assad have retaken them. It is unusual, however, for the army to take so long to recapture a town so close to the capital.
Arab countries and the West have failed to reach any consensus on how to counter the regime crackdown which, along with other violence, has left an estimated 5,400 people dead over the past 10 months.
Foreign ministers for the Arab League were set to meet tomorrow in Cairo to discuss the future of a one-month observer mission aimed at halting violence in Syria, which expired on Thursday.
Two senior officials in the 22-member pan-Arab body said the discussions are leaning toward keeping the 150-member mission in place because the time is not right for “escalation’’ and the international community is not ready for intervention in Syria.
They said several league members opposed to the extension of the mission had changed their position in recent days. The officials agreed to talk about the discussions ahead of the meeting on condition of anonymity.
Activists have said that the Arab observers have failed to curb the bloodshed. Many in the Syrian opposition have called for the dispatch of foreign troops to Syria to create safe zones for dissidents, or even a more wide-ranging military mission similar to the air campaign which helped Libyan rebels bring down dictator Moammar Khadafy last year.
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"Bombs strike police transport in Syria, killing 14 prisoners; Responsibility uncertain; may have been error" by Zeina Karam | Associated Press, January 22, 2012
BEIRUT - A string of explosions struck a police truck transporting prisoners in a tense area of northwestern Syria yesterday, killing at least 14 people, state media and an opposition group said. Government troops also battled defectors in the north in fighting that left 10 people dead.
The 10-month uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began with largely peaceful antigovernment protests but has turned increasingly militarized and chaotic in recent months as more frustrated regime opponents and army defectors arm themselves and fight back against government forces....
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but members of the so-called Free Syrian Army are known to be active in the area. The Free Syrian Army is a group of army defectors led by a Turkey-based defected colonel who sided with the protesters and have carried out attacks on regime forces.
A Syria-based activist said the area has several army encampments and is full of roadside bombs planted to target army tanks passing by, adding that the truck carrying prisoners may not have been the intended target.
The activist spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals....
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"Arab League extends Syria observer mission" January 23, 2012
BEIRUT - A clash between Syrian forces and army defectors erupted yesterday in a suburb of the tightly held capital of Damascus, adding urgency just as the Arab League was extending an observers’ mission that so far has failed to end long months of bloody violence.
The two events outlined how an uprising against President Bashar Assad that started with mass popular protests is moving now toward an armed conflict that could draw international intervention...
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Also see: Arab League halts observer mission in Syria
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