First Report: Car bomb explodes near British Embassy in Damascus

Israeli Media ^ | 4/27/2004

[yonif]

Car bomb explodes near British Embassy in Damascus. Shots and explosions are being heard in the capital. Israel media reporting, Channel 2 Israel and other sources.

[RetiredArmy]

Yup. Unknown. There are so many "groups" over there you actually need a score card!!!

[yonif]

Could be Al Queda. If it is so, Syria, a terrorist state, will use it for propaganda purposes and declare it is against terrorism (and cite this attack). But the fact is it will be still for the terrorism that murders Jews and Christians, as much of the Islamic world does. Al Queda attacking Arabs is seen as terrorism by the Arab world, but when Al Queda strikes Western targets, or other terror groups do the same like Hamas or Hizbullah, they could care less and even are happy when it happens, as many of them support the activities of Hamas, PLO, and Hizbullah.

[Piranha]

Or at least the State Department.

[Semper Paratus]

Al-queda needs another country to bunker into like they did in Afghanistan. But attacking Syria smells of severe desperation.

[Bismarck]

DEBKA: Between 3-5 blasts, sirens, heavy shooting in western district of Syrian capital Damascus, which Syrian security forces have cordoned off. Damascus hospitals placed on the ready. DEBKAfile’s sources add: Initial accounts indicate British ambassador’s residence, Canadian and Saudi embassies in W. Damascus targeted in series of terrorist attacks by car bombs and gun squads. More details awaited.

[evets]

I know somebody who has a contigency plan:
"Behold, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. " Isaiah 17

[oceanview]

it would be desperation. how do they get the regular syrian military to go along?

[RightWhale]

As was Khadaffi's Libya. That may be at an end for Syria as well since the terrorists have finally operated inside Syria. Everybody is getting tired of these losers. Terrorized we might be, but afraid no longer, and the financial incentive is gone, too.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

11:01 PDT DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Explosions and heavy gunfire were heard Tuesday near the British ambassador's residence and the Saudi Embassy in Damascus, two Arab TV stations reported.

The reports by the Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera satellite stations could not immediately be confirmed.

The explosions were in west Damascus' al-Mazza district, Al-Jazeera said.

[victoryatallcosts]

They've attacked pretty much everyone else in the Islamic world, or tried to. They're desperate. They have to kill somebody, so they're killing targets of convience.

I wonder how Canadians will respond to this.

[Cap Huff]

It has the stench of Zarqawi.

[Dog Gone]

I'm amazed we don't have a report of an attack at the American embassy yet. You'd think we'd be the main target. But the Iranian embassy?

[Catspaw]

They didn't attack Syria per se. They attacked Western embassies inside Syria. They may have also targeted the Saudi embassy, but al Qaeda has made Saudi Arabia a target because of bin Laden and Saudis ties to the west.

[yonif]

I think its more of them targetting western sites in Islamic countries (who could very be terror states themselves, like Syria) or Arab countries that seem friendly to America in some way (like that attack in Jordan).

[weegie]

BBC News emphasising nearness to Iranian embassy

[johnfrink]

Ok, but the Jordan attack (at least as Dan Darling has speculated) was intended to be a decapitation strike aimed at the Hashemite monarchy. No such tactics here, as the intended targets, from first reponse, are embassies. When has there been a coup that did not strike government buildings? I think never.

More likely this is an Al Qaeda attack, given Assad's assent in an effort to show that he is fighting them just as surely as is Saudi Arabia.

[yonif]

They didn't attack Syria per se. They attacked Western embassies inside Syria

Bump.

[Shermy]

I wonder how Canadians will respond to this.

With delusions, and somehow blaming its association with America somehow connected with Iraq.

Like the Spanish, I expect the Canadians not to understand that when the jihadis say get out of Afghanistan, they mean it. Afghanistan is more important for them than Iraq.

[Dog]

Why do I have this nagging fighting this attack will be blamed on the US.

[Imal]

It's too early to know exactly what is going on, but not too early to realize that this is a very significant development.