Syria: bloodshed in Damascus

Captured by Security Camera: Photo of the Criminal Behind the Bombings.

The Arab spring is at a crossroads; if Assad falls and the country avoids civil war, the revolution may move eastwards

Editorial
guardian.co.uk, Friday 23 December 2011

"....The Free Syria Army denied involvement and voiced scepticism. Residents of the heavily guarded neighbourhood of Kfar Sousa noted that the streets had been cleared just before the bombings, that agents stationed near the building did nothing when the bombs detonated, and that the state media was extraordinarily quick off the mark with footage and graphic pictures of the atrocities. The bombings also occurred hours before protesters were due to demonstrate against the arrival of mistrusted delegates from the Arab League who are due to monitor the government's promise to end its violent suppression of the uprising. Had the security forces lost control in a key area of the capital, to the extent that al-Qaida could walk in and place two bombs next to vital government installations? Perhaps. But it must also be admitted that Assad's cause would be helped if he could claim that his is a fight against terrorists, not large parts of his own population?

Either way, the bombings mark a new and dangerous phase in the conflict. First, the jihadi websites in Anbar province, in neighbouring Iraq, have been full of calls to go to the rescue of their Sunni brothers in Syria. Those parts of Iraq which are moving out of the control of a dictatorial Shia-dominated government in Baghdad could easily form a human reservoir for the conflict in Syria. Second, if the bombings were the work of Syria's security services, we can expect more of them. They have every interest in generating panic among Syrians, and support for the continued crackdown."