Posted on 07/18/2012 3:56:49 AM PDT by Zajko
Syria's defence minister General Daoud Rajha was killed in Wednesday's bomb attack on the National Security headquarters in Damascus, state TV said.
The Interior Minister and Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat was seriously wounded in the blast, Al Manar TV reported.
Security officials told AFP that several other participants in a top-level meeting were wounded in the blast and taken to Al-Shami hospital in the capital for treatment.
The attack took place during a meeting of ministers and security officials - it wounded several people, some of them critically, state television said.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.aljazeera.com ...
That sucker is hangin' with Lucifer...now on to Assad!
Couldn’t agree more.
AJ now reporting that Interior Minister and Assad’s brother-in-law also dead. Same to them if so.
The bomb was carried into the meeting with Hitler by Von Staufenberg. It was placed in a briefcase next to the leg of the solid oak table. It is said the table absorbed the blast and Hitler survived.
The lesson was learned by the Syrian equivalent who achieved spectacular success.
If FR had a ‘like’ button I’d click it to your comment - just hope whoever had the guts to carry this out gets a kinder fate than von Stauffenberg did.
If Assef Shawkat is gone, this is a huge blow to Assad’s regime: the president’s right-hand man, ‘public enemy no.1’ to anyone who opposes him, and even in a regime notorious for its level of brutality and inhumanity to its own people, one of the nastiest pieces of work around.
I lived in Damascus for a year or so, back in 2007, in an apartment in the Christian quarter of the old city. Syrian friends would criticize even Assad, in private, if they knew you well enough. But very few ever dared to make any comment about Shawkat.
The Assads have been supporting these bombings against Israel for decades. Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch.
After Syria, Iran is next. Boom!
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
There are indeed radical Islamic nutcases in Syria: far fewer of them, however, in my experience, than in the vast majority of Middle Eastern states. It’s also worth remembering that over 20% of the population is Christian.
Syria is not a ‘religious’ state, in general. When I was there, you could drink beer openly in the street, discuss religion freely and openly, and even date a local girl.
Assad certainly fits that bill. There are a lot of nasty pieces of work in that part of the world, but Assad and his cronies are some of the worst.
Now confirmed on Syrian state TV that Assef Shawkat, Assad’s brother-in-law and right-hand man, is indeed dead.
Good riddance to the ****er.
Payback for all the Syrian bombings in Lebanon and Israel.
——The Arab Muslims are suicide bombers for Allah-——
That fact is not in any evidence I have seen for the general population and especially not in the current incident under discussion.
Absolutely: whether Al-Qaeda types may try to fill any vacuum of power which occurs after Assad exits (which he will: it’s a question now of when, not if) is absolutely of concern. However, one needs to differentiate between those who are fighting in any way they can to save themselves, their families and their country from one of the most despotic and evil regimes on earth.
I have Syrian friends, some of whom I am still in touch with, and some of whom are suffering horrors almost beyond imagining at the hands of Assad and his gang. None of them are in any way ‘suicide bombers for Allah’ (I don’t generally befriend these). Some of them aren’t even Muslims. They’re largely regular, decent people, trying desperately to do whatever they can to defend themselves from a state apparatus that will torture and murder indiscriminately to maintain its hold on power.
I don’t deny that such types exist, of course, including in Syria. Indeed, Assad’s regime is now making an effort to get Al Qaeda elements on side in its own support as it massacres its own people. But these do not make up the bulk of those who are now fighting against Assad’s thugs.
Of course I was tracked by state security. At times they were even obvious. And don’t try to put words into my mouth: no-one but a lunatic would claim that Syria was a ‘liberal’ state in any political way: quite the opposite. I’m talking about the nature of the people, from a religious perspective, in response to your comment about ‘suicide bombers for Allah’, as was quite clear.
My point, to repeat, is that Syria isn’t an Islamic religious state: the people are in general quite liberal, from a religious perspective, when compared to other countries where I’ve lived, traveled or worked in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait etc. To class everyone in Syria as a ‘suicide bomber for Allah’ simply displays ignorance and lack of knowledge about the country and its people.
And there is no evidence that Christians in Syria are ‘packing up and leaving’ in any greater numbers than their Muslim counterparts right now.
What is going on, is this the twilight zone or something or are freepers so dense now that they are cheering for al qaeda and the muslim brotherhood.
WTF!?
I’m absolutely aware of both the good aspects (and there are good aspects, as you rightly mention) and the bad, in Middle Eastern / Arabic culture. And yes, many here do indeed have what you describe as a 7th century side to their psyches. In some countries in the region, these are even dominant. In others, there is a risk that they may become so.
What the future holds for Syria, who knows: it is indeed possible that Muslim Brotherhood types may eventually manage to seize power in Damascus, inflicting God-knows-what on their fellow Syrians of other creeds, sects and outlooks on life.
I don’t, however think this is inevitable in Syria (as it always was, to all but the most blinkered optimist, in Egypt). And I did feel it’s unfair to describe the motivation of the bulk of those who’ve been driven to defend themselves against Assad’s thuggish regime - one which routinely tortures and murders children for sport - as ‘suicide bombers for Allah.’ I’m not denying these may indeed exist, including in Syria. But they aren’t in any way the driving force behind the current struggle there, and God willing, they may never become so. Who knows: we can but watch, hope and pray.
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