Bomb blast rocks Damascus, Syria faces OIC suspension

DAMASCUS: A massive bomb attack and a firefight shook Damascus on Wednesday as pressure mounted on the regime, with the world’s largest pan-Islamic bloc poised to suspend Syria over the unrelenting violence.
The rebel Free Syrian Army claimed the bomb attack targeted a military headquarters near a hotel used by UN observers as a warning to President Bashar Assad that it could strike anytime at the very heart of the regime.
A gunbattle also erupted between rebels and troops near the offices of new Prime Minister Wael Al-Halqi, who took office after his predecessor defected last week, and a new Iranian embassy building that is still under construction.
Damascus has been rocked by several bomb blasts since the start of the increasingly brutal conflict, including a July attack also claimed by the FSA that killed four top security chiefs in a major body blow to the regime.
“There was a huge explosion and a fireball, and soldiers were thrown to the ground by the blast,” a military officer told AFP at the scene, adding that five people suffered burns or shrapnel wounds. No UN staff member was hurt.
The attack came a day after former prime minister Riad Hijab, the highest profile government figure to defect, said the regime had collapsed and only controlled 30 percent of the country.
While the Organization of Islamic Cooperation was set to follow the Arab League in suspending Syria, fresh comments by Russia exposed the deepening rifts between world powers over how to tackle a conflict now in its 18th month.
The OIC move — vehemently opposed by Iran — is aimed at further isolating Assad’s regime over the fighting that activists say has killed over 23,000 people and sent hundreds of thousands fleeing, but is seen as largely symbolic.
Syria was suspended from the Arab League last year over its bloody crackdown on the Arab Spring-inspired uprising.
A final draft statement says Syria should be suspended over “the obstinacy of the Syrian authorities in following the military option” and the failure of a peace plan brokered by outgoing international envoy Kofi Annan.
It demands that Assad’s regime “immediately end all acts of violence” while defending Syria’s “unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.”
Russia rejects ‘sabotage’of transition accord’
Russia, meanwhile, said it would not let the West “sabotage” a political transition accord for Syria agreed in Geneva in June and accused Western states of fomenting violence by openly supporting the armed rebellion.
World powers had agreed on a Russian-backed transition plan that did not make an explicit call for Assad to quit, although the West insists it sees no future role for the man who has led Syria with an iron fist for 12 years.
“What was accomplished in Geneva should not be sabotaged,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Belarus.
“There is a need for outside players to put pressure on all Syrian sides, stop urging and inciting the opposition to continue the armed struggle,“
A Russian official also said Moscow wanted to keep the UN monitoring mission operating in some form after its mandate expires on August 19, warning that a UN withdrawal would have “serious negative consequences.”
China, another traditional Syria ally, also accused Western powers of hampering efforts to end the conflict, as a senior Damascus envoy visited Beijing for talks.
Beijing and Moscow have repeatedly used vetoes to scuttle UN Security Council resolutions aimed at tackling the violence, putting them at loggerheads with fellow permanent members the United States, Britain and France.
“Some Western countries have never given up the goal of ‘regime change’ in Syria and constantly reinforced their support for the anti-government forces,” the People’s Daily in China said.
With the future of Syria crucial to the military and geopolitical balance in the region. the conflict is exposing deep rivalries and political power games between both regional and international players.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Tuesday accused Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards of “trying to develop, trying to train a militia within Syria to be able to fight on behalf of the regime.”
“We are seeing a growing presence by Iran and that is of deep concern to us. We do not think that Iran ought to play that role at this moment in time, that’s dangerous... It’s adding to the killing that’s going on in Syria.”
On the ground, activists reported heavy shelling on Wednesday in several rebel-held districts of the northern hub of Aleppo, seen as pivotal to the outcome of the rebellion.
Violence was also raging in provinces of Homs and Idlib, where anti-regime sentiment is strong.
Government forces also stormed several districts of Damascus on the third day of security raids in the capital.
The unrelenting violence has raised international concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation with over one million people displaced and at least another 157,600 fleeing to neighboring countries.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos was holding a second day of talks in Damascus on how to step up relief aid, with reports that many caught up in the conflict are suffering shortages of food, power and medical supplies.