| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Damascus Attackers Fought in Iraq |
| 2004-05-13 |
| At least three of the men who staged a mysterious attack in Syria's capital were Syrians who had come back from fighting U.S. troops in neighboring Iraq, the Associated Press has learned. A Syrian close to the government, who refused to be further identified, confirmed Arab newspaper reports that they were among Arab volunteers who went to Iraq in the early stages of the war on Saddam Hussein's regime. Two of the gunmen, a policeman and a passer-by died in the April 27 clash with security forces in a diplomatic quarter of Damascus. It was described by the Syrian government a terrorist attack — a rarity in this tightly controlled Arab country. The source, speaking a few days ago, did not elaborate. But on Tuesday, Syria's prime minister confirmed that the attack was a homegrown, isolated incident, backing away from initial suggestions that international terrorists from abroad were responsible. "It was very limited," Naji al-Otari told reporters, adding that the perpetrators had acted on their own. He did not specify whether the attackers had been in Iraq, but said there was no foreign link. The attackers are said to have detonated a bomb and then engaged in a 90-minute gunbattle with police. An abandoned U.N. building took the brunt of the fighting. Al-Otari did not disclose the attackers' identities or possible motives. But Kuwait's al-Rai al-Aam, the London-based Al Hayat and other Arab newspapers citing unnamed Syrian sources identified three of the attackers as Ayman Shlash, his brother Ahmed and their cousin Mohammed, all of Artouz, about 12 miles south of the capital. It was not clear whether the fourth gunman, also a Syrian, was from Artouz. The papers identified one of the dead as Ayman Shlash, who ran for parliament a year ago as an independent. They did not name the other man killed. They said two suspects, also unnamed, were in custody. Murhaf Jouejati, an analyst at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, described the incident as a bizarre and "very murky affair." The "unprofessionalism" of the attackers pointed to "some fundamentalist group in Syria taking advantage of the general turmoil in the neighborhood," rather than by al-Qaida or Syria's disenchanted Kurd minority, he said. "But it could be any number of things." The Arab newspaper reports gave few details on the Shlash trio that might offer clues to their motivation. An AP reporter was unable to interview people who might have known them. Residents of Artouz wouldn't talk, though they readily pointed to the Shlash home in the middle of the town. The family's home, a two-story building with a tiny grocery store on the ground floor, appeared largely deserted. One wall was festooned with about a dozen campaign posters featuring a blue-suited Ayman Shlash. Security agents in the neighborhood ordered journalists to leave. The absence of a detailed official account has fed rumors and conspiracy theories. Some commentators in neighboring Lebanon have even publicly speculated that the attack was fabricated by the Syrian government itself to gain points with Washington, which on Tuesday slapped sanctions on Syria for allegedly supporting terrorism and hindering U.S. efforts in Iraq. Syrian Cabinet minister Bouthayna Shaaban, in an article that appeared in the London-based Asharq al-Awsat daily, angrily dismissed the theory. U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, interviewed last week on the Arab satellite station LBC-Hayat, was asked why Washington has not condemned the attack in Damascus. Rice, whose comments in English were voiced over in Arabic, said: "Every attack must be condemned," but added: "I don't think we fully understand what happened in Syria." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Word on the street is that Assad staged the attack himself so that he could declare to the world that "Syria, too, was now fighting terrorism." To the best of my knowledge, there is no difference between Assad and Syrian Baathists. |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-05-13 3:26:52 PM |
| #1 hmm - well that should put to rest the notion that they were Kurds. Sounds like Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, who apparently were tight with the Saddamites (per dan darling on WOC) Unless of course it was stage managed by the Syrians themselves. Of course one wonders how this relates to differences between Syrian Baath and Baby Assad - could be as complex as Saudi? |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-05-13 3:24:48 PM |