Two blasts hit Syrian security sites in Damascus
Two blasts hit Syrian security sites in Da… JPost – Middle East.
12/23/2011 11:42
Two booby-trapped cars blew up at Syrian security sites in Damascus on Friday, killing several civilians and soldiers,state television said. Witnesses reported hearing large blasts rock the capital.
“The terrorist attacks left a number of martyrs, both civilian and military. Most of the victims were civilian,” it said in a news flash.
Syrian state television said initial investigations indicated that al-Qaida was behind the attacks. A witness from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said he heard heavy gunfire break out after the blasts.
The attacks came a day after the first wave of an Arab League observation mission landed in Damascus to prepare for an monitoring team that will check if Syria is implementing a peace plan to halt months of bloodshed.
Syrian security forces have launched a fierce crackdown on nine months of anti-government protests.
In recent months, the peaceful pro-democracy movement has been overshadowed by pockets of armed insurgency that have begun to launch what they call defensive attacks against Syrian forces.
Friday’s attacks hit a state security administration building and a local security branch, state television said.
Last month, a small blast was reported near a Syrian intelligence building in Damascus, but there was little damage.
WarSclerotic 
December 23, 2011 at 2:12 PM
A terror attack that claimed mostly civillian casualties on the day after the arab league moniors’ foward prep team arrives? This could very well be terror-related given the regime’s former record with islamic extremists, but given everything we’ve seen and heard until now this could just as easily have been planned by the regime to demonstrate a justified need to the monitors to continue their combat against their opposition.