DAMASCUS/JEDDAH, 13 September 2006 — Syrian authorities yesterday gunned down three men who were attempting to explode a car bomb in front of the US Embassy in Damascus. A fourth man involved in the attempted bombing was wounded but captured alive. Interior Minister Bassam Abdel Majid called the attack a “terrorist operation.”
Syrian state television reported that a Syrian guard was killed in the attack and 13 bystanders were wounded, including an Iraqi couple and a Chinese diplomat. The attack was the first such shooting and attempted bombing assault on an embassy in Damascus.
“People could not get out by cars because of the traffic jam everywhere,” Saria Naim a 52-year-old Syrian teacher told Arab News.
According to eyewitnesses, the chaos near the embassy, located in the heavily guarded Abou Roumaneh diplomatic district, lasted until about 12:30 p.m. The area was surrounded with Syrian security forces and ambulances well into the afternoon.
Security officials said the assailants also possessed rocket-propelled grenades.
“I saw two men in plain clothes and armed with grenades and automatic weapons,” Ayman Abdel-Nour, a Syrian political commentator who was in the area, said. “They ran toward the compound shouting religious slogans while firing their automatic rifles.”
Television footage of the scene showed a van packed with gas canisters. Bloodstains could be seen on the pavement, along with a white, bullet-riddled car.
White House spokesmen Tony Snow thanked Syrian officials for foiling the attack. “The US government is grateful for the assistance the Syrians provided in going after the attackers,” Snow said at a press briefing. “We are hoping they will become an ally and make the choice of fighting against terrorists.” The United States lists Syria as a state-sponsor of terrorism. Syrian-US relations have been tense for years, mainly over the alleged channeling of arms to Hezbollah through its border.
But the mood yesterday was one of expressing gratitude over Syria’s response to the bomb plot. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it was too early to know who was behind the attack, but she praised Syrian actions and expressed condolences over the guard’s death.
“I do think that the Syrians reacted to this attack in a way that helped to secure our people, and we very much appreciate that,” she told a news conference in Canada.
A US Embassy statement said the Syrian government had pledged “full security cooperation” in meetings between US diplomats and Syrian officials following the attack.
Students at the nearby American School were sent home after the attack. An eyewitness, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Arab News that he heard the attackers raising religious slogans as a sign of jihad. “This is not jihad and our religion, Islam, is so far from what happened,” she said.
Syria’s government crushed an armed revolt led by the Muslim Brotherhood movement in the early 1980s. Syrian forces have clashed with Islamic militants several times in recent months, often during raids to arrest them.
In June, militants near the premises of state-run television in Damascus killed four gunmen and a guard. Syrian security forces said they had foiled an attack.
The United States recalled its ambassador from Syria in February 2005, expressing outrage over the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, in Beirut, which Washington blames on Syria. Damascus denies involvement.
The United States increased its criticism of Syria during Israel’s 34-day war in July and August with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, who are supported by Syria and Iran.
— Additional input from agencies
