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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |||||||||||
| Syrian Security Forces Clash With "terrorist Band" | |||||||||||
| 2004-04-27 | |||||||||||
| DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Attackers firing automatic rifles and grenade launchers fought police in a diplomatic quarter of the Syrian capital Tuesday, witnesses said. Syrian state media said security forces confronted a "terrorist band." A U.N. spokeswoman said a building formerly occupied by the United Nations may have been targeted.
At least one attacker was killed and another captured, according to initial reports. Syria has not seen such violence in years.
Syrian television, in a brief statement, said security forces gave chase and were in control of the situation. It gave no other details. Syria's official news agency SANA, quoting a security source, said "a terrorist band shot this evening indiscriminately in the Mazza area." Late into the evening, smoke was seen billowing from Mazza and ambulances and police cars rushed to the area, which had been sealed off by security forces. In New York, Marie Okabe, a U.N. spokeswoman, said the targeted building may have been the former offices of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force, which oversees an agreement between Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights. "It is our understanding that a building formerly occupied by UNDOF, which is still known as a U.N. building, may have been hit," she said. "Our preliminary information is that all U.N. staff and facilities are safe and accounted for," she said. The United Nations Development Fund and its Children's Fund also are in Mazza. Witnesses, who said the violence started about 7:20 p.m. and lasted 70 minutes, gave different reports that could not immediately be reconciled.
One witness said four gunmen came out of a white van on the main Mazza Boulevard in front of the Canadian Embassy and started shooting indiscriminately.
A police car on patrol in the area rushed to the scene and came under fire. The police shot back and police and plainclothes security forces reinforcements arrived, the witness said.
Three gunmen were killed and a fourth was taken into custody, the witness reported.
Five cars were gutted and there was a fire at the building where the United Nations used to have offices. Police explosives experts were brought to the scene to examine the bodies of the dead gunmen to make sure they were not booby-trapped. Another witness said the attackers were riding in two cars. Two explosions were first heard and a heavy exchange of fire ensued. More than 15 explosions followed, said the witness. Syrian political analyst Imad Shuaibi told The Associated Press he had learned that two men "attacked with hand grenades and gunfire near the Iranian and Canadian embassies." "One was killed and the other was captured," Shuaibi said.
Mazza, on the western edge of Damascus, is home to a Saudi consulate, the British ambassador's home, offices of the Iranian state news agency, the Iranian Embassy and the Canadian Embassy are in Mazza.
British and Iranian diplomatic officials said their embassies were not targeted in the attack. Syria has been on the U.S. State Department's list of terror-sponsoring nations for its support of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah that attack Israel. Syria, though, says the anti-Israeli groups are not terrorist, and that it has an interest in fighting Islamic extremist groups like al-Qaida.
Syria has come under intense pressure, particularly from Washington, to crack down on militants based in the country who are opposed to Israel or purportedly entering neighboring Iraq to fight U.S. soldiers. Neighboring Jordan said several suspected terrorists entered the country from Syria last month in a foiled plot to carry out attacks on targets including the U.S. Embassy in Amman, the prime minister's office and the secret service agency. Damascus denied claims that suspected terrorists entered Jordan from Syria and has said it is trying to stop foreign fighters from cross from its territory into Iraq, but that the long, porous border is hard to police.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Syria's hard-line government fought a fierce war with Islamic fundamentalists of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was blamed for a 1980 assassination attempt on President Hafez Assad, the country's authoritarian leader who died from natural causes in 2000. Assad was succeeded by his son, Bashar Assad.
In 1982, the Muslim Brotherhood staged a rebellion in the northern province of Hama. During the clashes, Syrian forces razed much of the city, killing as many as 10,000 people and finally crushing the Brotherhood after a five-year war. | |||||||||||
| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 One witness said four gunmen came out of a white van on the main Mazza Boulevard in front of the Canadian Embassy and started shooting indiscriminately. 'FBI analyst': Ah, a white van, it was obviously the work of four white male loners... all working together...proabably got their weapons from a gun show in Damascus.... /satire |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-04-27 11:42:58 PM |
| #7 Wonder if it is Kurdish rebels, being helped very quietly by their cousins to the northeast. Kurds got beat on recently in Syria, and I think the Kurds are world-class grudge-nursers. Hmmm, Kurdish Syria and Kurdish Iraq, free and semi-independent. A natural for each other. Hmmmm. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-04-27 9:51:12 PM |
| #6 If the official mouthpiece of the Syrian regime calls them terrorists, perhaps they are freedom fighters. I'd be very surprised if jihadis are actually turning against the Syrian regime. I guess I can't say "shocked" though, since timing doesn't seem to be in their vocabulary. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-04-27 8:45:15 PM |
| #5 I agree! Small boom at empty UN building. Very fishy. Next step is Kurds get blamed. |
| Posted by: Phil B 2004-04-27 8:41:26 PM |
| #4 this does make little sense...unless it distracts from the latest problems in jordan coming from Syria. "Look we are fighting terrorists too, not just exporting them" |
| Posted by: scott 2004-04-27 8:34:29 PM |
| #3 This is making little sense... I'm wondering if the Kurds got loose. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-04-27 8:03:07 PM |
#2 Syria has not seen such violence in years.ROFL! You nailed it, Steve. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-04-27 6:30:39 PM |
| #1 sounds like "freedom fighters", right, al-jizz? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-04-27 5:38:26 PM |