Syria Today | Twin blasts shock Damascus

Security branch in Kafer Suseh after the bombing on December 23

On the morning of December 23, Damascus was rocked by two huge explosions caused by two suicide car bombers that targeted state security buildings in the Kafer Suseh quarter, according to official reports. State-run Syrian TV was the first media outlet to report the two blasts, saying that "preliminary investigations hold Al-Qaeda responsible."

In a statement broadcast on Syrian TV on the next day, the Ministry of the Interior announced that a suicide bomber drove a car loaded with explosives into the main door of the Area Security Branch in Damascus at 10:18am. The statement added that one minute later, another suicide bomber drove a booby-trapped GMC 4WD car into the General Intelligence Administration building. The attacks killed 44 security forces personnel and civilian passersby, in addition to wounding 166. The blasts also caused significant material damage to nearby buildings, according to the ministry's statement.

A delegation of the Arab League observers who had arrived the day before visited the sites of the two explosions to assess the situation, state-run Syrian TV reported.

"What we are seeing today is regrettable; the important issue is that things calm down," said Sameer Seif el-Yazal, head of the first observers' team.

Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mikdad accompanied the observers, and told reporters at one of the bomb sites, "on the first day after the arrival of the Arab observers, this is the gift from the terrorists and Al-Qaeda, but we are going to do all we can to facilitate the Arab League mission,"  according to Day-Press.

The twin car bombs raised strong international and regional reactions. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern about the escalation of violence in Syria. The US State Department condemned the attacks in Damascus but said they must not deter the Arab League observers from doing their work. The UK, along with Turkey, Iran, Lebanon and Iraq, also denounced the "two terrorist attacks." On the other hand, France expressed skepticism: "We still don't have any details on the origin of these attacks," said Bernard Valero, French Foreign Ministry spokesman according to The Guardian.

However, the Syrian authorities stressed that Lebanon had warned two days before the bombings that "Al-Qaeda groups had infiltrated Syria through the town of Arsan," according to Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad al-Makdissi's statements to the BBC.

These speculations about the bombings in Damascus were fuelled by the fact that they came a day after several coordinated attacks in Baghdad killed at least 65 and were blamed on Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

"Al-Qaeda has strong branches in Iraq and Lebanon," wrote Abdel Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of the UK-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, on December 24. "We cannot assert that Al-Qaeda inevitably stands behind the latest Damascus bombing, but it is not unlikely or surprising if it is the actual perpetrator. The ideology of this organisation…is hostile to the Syrian regime and accuses it of being heretical."

Later, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood had claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement posted on its website. However, Zuhair Salem, the spokesman for Syria's Muslim Brotherhood, denied any involvement in the Damascus bombings in a phone call with Al-Arabiya channel. Salem said the claim was on a fake website created by the regime. He added that it was "completely orchestrated by the regime, just as the attacks were".

The Free Syrian Army, an anti-regime group made up of alleged army deserters, also denied responsibility for the attacks, according to the New York Times.

A day after the explosions, the Syrian government organised a mass funeral for the victims of the bombings which was aired live on Syrian TV. The coffins were wrapped in Syrian flags and lined up inside the historic Umayyad Mosque. Both Muslim and Christian clerics headed by senior Muslim cleric Ramadan Said al-Bouti attended the funeral along with thousands of people, according to state-run news agency SANA. The funerals turned into a pro-regime rally where mourners chanted against America, Qatar and the Arab League.

Addressing the gathering, Bouti accused the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) of being behind the attacks. "That was the gift of [SNC leader] Burhan Ghalioun and his comrades to Syria," he declared. "We cannot extend our hands to an enemy no matter how much it pretends to care, and we cannot shake hands covered in blood," Bouti concluded.

For his part, Ghalioun said in an interview with the UK-based daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat on December 26 that the bombings "carry the signature of the Syrian intelligence."

Since the two blasts, the Syrian regime and the opposition have been exchanging accusations. Opposition leaders and supporters have raised doubts over the authorities' narrative, claiming that the government bears all responsibility. "The regime is trying to deceive the Syrian public," said Ghalioun. Michel Kilo, a prominent independent opposition figure, described the latest bombings as "planned chaos by the regime to intimidate the Arab delegation in Damascus and confine them to their hotel rooms," according to UAE-based daily Gulf News.

Asked to comment on accusations that the bombings were executed by the regime itself, Mikdad shot back: "Anyone who makes such allegations is a criminal," the AFP reported.

Jim Muir, BBC's correspondent in Lebanon, commented, "we may never know who carried out the bombings - but they were absolutely against the interests of the opposition, and played strongly into the hands of the government."

In any case, the bombings marked a new escalation of violence in Syria.