Syria: Rebels claim Damascus bomb attack

15 Aug 2012, 8:47 pm   -   Source: AFP
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Damascus has been hit by several bomb blasts, including an attack last month at the national security headquarters that killed four of President Bashar al-Assad's top security chiefs. (AAP)

Damascus has been hit by several bomb blasts, including an attack last month at the national security headquarters that killed four of President Bashar al-Assad's top security chiefs. (AAP)

A massive bomb blast rocked the heart of Damascus on Wednesday, setting off a fireball near the hotel used by the UN observer mission in Syria in an attack claimed by the rebel Free Syrian Army.

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A massive bomb blast rocked the heart of Damascus on Wednesday, setting off a fireball 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 officer 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," said Maher Nuwaimi, head of the FSA coordination command in Syria.
  
Damascus has been hit by several bomb blasts, including an attack last month at the national security headquarters that killed four of President Bashar al-Assad's top security chiefs and was also claimed by the FSA.
  
"There was a huge explosion and a fireball, and soldiers were thrown to the ground by the blast," the military officer told AFP at the scene.
  
The UN Supervision Mission in Syria, which uses the Dama Rose as its headquarters, was not immediately available for comment.
  
The UN Security Council is due to meet Thursday to discuss the future of the observer mission, whose mandate under a peace plan drawn up by former international envoy Kofi Annan expires on August 19.
  
"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.
  
The FSA commander said the targeted military building houses a fuel depot, as well as ammunitions and weapons stores that supply troops in the capital.
  
"This operation aims to boost the morale of the FSA and tell Bashar al-Assad and his command that we can conduct carefully planned operations because we know what is happening in their ranks," he told AFP in Beirut.
  
Elsewhere in the capital, security forces stormed two districts, in one area using tanks, according to activists.
  
It is the third straight day security forces have swept central areas of the capital, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
  
The Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists on the ground, also reported shelling in the Midan district of central Damascus.
  
In Syria's second city Aleppo, the army pounded the battleground districts of Saif al-Dawla, Sukari and Salaheddin in the south as well as the eastern rebel-held districts of Sakhur and Tariq al-Bab.
  
The army began its advance on Saif al-Dawla on Monday after last week retaking the neighbouring district of Salaheddin, which still has pockets of rebel fighters.
  
Aleppo is seen as pivotal to the outcome of the conflict, with some referring to it as Syria's Benghazi, the Libyan city that was the cradle of the revolt that toppled Moamer Kadhafi's regime.
  
Elsewhere in Aleppo province, one civilian was killed, while 10 civilians, including a child and four women died in shelling in the northwest province of Idlib, the Britain-based Observatory said, after 151 people were killed across Syria on Tuesday.
  
According to Observatory figures, over 23,000 people have been killed since the start of the anti-regime revolt, now entering its 18th month.

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Your Comments

Condemn these terror!st attacks

Cf - from Melb, 9 months ago

Call it what it is!! It's not a bomb attack by rebels.. It's a Terror!st attack instigated by foreign backed terrori!sts !!

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