1AFP - A massive bomb blast on Wednesday rocked the heart of Damascus near the hotel used by the UN observer mission in Syria, in an attack claimed by the rebel Free Syrian Army.
The blast, which tore a huge hole out of a petrol tanker near the Dama Rose hotel, wounded at least five people, a military source at the scene said, while Syria's deputy foreign minister said UN staff were unscathed.
The FSA operation targeted a military command office with explosives designed to go off at a meeting of army officers and members of the shabiha (pro-government militia) which decides on daily operations in Damascus," Maher Nuwaimi, head of the FSA coordination command in Syria, told AFP.
Damascus has been hit by several bomb blasts, including an attack last month at the national security headquarters that killed three of President Bashar al-Assad's top security chiefs and was claimed by the FSA.
State television showed images of charred vehicles and the fuel truck, its rear end blown off and still smouldering from the blast as firefighters doused the area and security forces set up a cordon.
"Our primary goal is to secure the observer mission team and thank God no one from this mission has been hurt since it arrived in Syria," Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told reporters.
"We will confirm to the United Nations that we will make every possible effort to secure their protection so they may exercise their role properly," he said, adding that he had visited the observers and that they were all okay.
The UN Supervision Mission in Syria, which uses the Dama Rose as its headquarters, was not immediately available for comment. UNSMIS chief General Babacar Gaye had staged a press conference at the hotel on Monday.
The UN Security Council is due to meet on Thursday to discuss the future of the observer mission, whose mandate expires on August 19.
The tanker was in car park near the Dama Rose and a row of UN vehicles were seen parked nearby, untouched by the blast.
Elsewhere in the capital, security forces stormed at least two districts in the hunt for rebels, in one area using tanks and army vehicles, according to activists.
It is the third straight day security forces have swept central areas of the capital, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
So the Syrian "rebels" (I use that term lightly since its well documented that they are a mix of foreign jihadis, army defectors, mercenaries and terrorists) 2. pulled off a huge coup'. Not only did they try to blow up the UN observer mission they also (uncharacteristically) claimed responsibility for it instead of trying to pin it on Assad
. Well done! Lucky for you this story will be buried on page eight of the NYT (if its reported at all) so you don't have to worry about loosing all that cushy support in the US. Not that it matters when your being bankrolled to the tunes of millions by democracy friendly Saudi princes... 3Isn't it so good that the US is back together with the mujaheddin?
I knew that breakup after 9/11 wouldn't last forever. After all, the black Al Quaeda is flying over Syria now. 4Notes:
1. http://www.france24.com/en/20120815-bom ... ia-wounded and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we7U5eoYtws
2 http://www.cfr.org/syria/al-qaedas-specter-syria/p28782 and http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/06 ... re-syrian/ and
3 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... o-darkness and http://www.rt.com/news/arab-payroll-syrian-rebels-559/
4 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NH14Ak01.html
I really hope you are not a fellow Canadian.. unless you're one of them "honour killings are good" people.. Then get the F out of my country.
