Ninety people died in Thursday’s four bombings across Damascus, a violence monitoring group said, making it one of the bloodiest days in the Syrian capital since the outbreak of a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad nearly two years ago.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, quoting figures it said were compiled from hospitals and other medical sources, said at least 60 of the dead were killed in a powerful car bomb blast in the Mazraa district of central Damascus, near the Russian Embassy and offices of Assad’s ruling Baath Party.
The others were killed in three coordinated bombings in the north-eastern district of Barzeh, the Britain-based group said.
Syrian state media put the death toll from the Mazraa bombing at 53, with more than 200 wounded. Both activists and officials said most of those killed were civilians, including children.
In addition to the violence in the capital, more than 200 people were killed elsewhere including in the Damascus suburbs, the southern city of Deraa and northern commercial hub of Aleppo, bringing Thursday’s death to around 300 — one of the highest in a single day, the Observatory said.
The United Nations says 70,000 people have died in Syria’s conflict, the bloodiest and most protracted of the uprisings which have convulsed the Arab world in the last two years.
Russia, a staunch ally of Assad’s, accused the United States on Friday of having double standards over the violence in Syria, saying Washington had blocked a UN Security Council statement condemning the Mazraa car bomb.
“We … see in it a very dangerous tendency by our American colleagues to depart from the fundamental principle of unconditional condemnation of any terrorist act, a principle which secures the unity of the international community in the fight against terrorism,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attacks, but the al-Qaeda-linked hard-line rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra has said it has carried out dozens of attacks in the past year, including devastating bombings in Damascus and Aleppo.
Syrian National Coalition’s reaction — ARA BASLIK
The main opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, condemned Thursdy’s attack without accusing any specific group of carrying it out. It did, however, suggest that the regime allowed foreign terror groups to operate in Syria.
“The terrorist Assad regime bears the most responsibility for all the crimes that happen in the homeland because it has opened the doors to those with different agendas to enter Syria and harm its stability so it can hide behind this and use it as an excuse to justify its crimes,” the group said in a statement.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but suspicion will likely fall upon one of the most extreme of Syria’s myriad rebel factions, the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra. The group has claimed similar past bombings against regime targets.
On Friday, the Coalition said it would welcome US and Russian mediation to negotiate a peace deal to end the country’s civil wall but insisted it would not allow Assad or members of his security services to participate in the talks.
The announced came in a statement posted on the Coalition’s Facebook page following two-day meetings in Cairo meant to try to firm up its position on whether to engage with the regime in talks.
“Bashar Assad and the security and military leadership responsible for the state of Syria today must step down and be considered outside this political process,” the statement said. “They cannot be part of any political solution for Syria and must be held accountable for their crimes.”
SNC chief Mouaz al-Khatib has angered some of his colleagues by offering talks with regime elements to help end the civil war. Friday’s announcement appeared meant to set the boundaries for any future talks by stressing that Assad and his aides cannot be part of any negotiations.
The violence in Damascus follows a string of tactical victories in recent weeks for the rebels – the capture of the nation’s largest hydroelectric dam and the overtaking of airbases in the northeast – that have contributed to the sense that the opposition may be gaining momentum.
The latest violence in the capital has shattered the sense of normalcy that the Syrian regime has desperately tried to maintain in Damascus, a city that has largely been insulated from the bloodshed and destruction that has left other urban centers in ruins.
The rebels first launched an offensive on Damascus in July, following a stunning bombing on a high-level government crisis meeting that killed four top regime officials, including Assad’s brother-in-law and the defense minister. After that attack, rebel groups that had established footholds in the suburbs pushed in, battling government forces for more than a week before being routed and swept out.
Source: Todayszaman