On 23 December 2011, two seemingly coordinated bombings occurred in the
Syrian capital of
Damascus. The alleged
suicide car bombs exploded outside Syrian
military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
agency buildings, killing 44 people and injuring 166. According to Syrian
state media, most of the dead were civilians. The attacks took place during the
Syrian uprising. The Syrian government blamed
Islamist militants, while the
Syrian opposition accused the government of
staging the attacks to justify its crackdown on the uprising.
Background
On the same day as the attacks, an
Arab League team of observers arrived in Syria to monitor the government's activities and push towards a solution of the
nine-month uprising against the government. Officials from the visiting team later visited the sites of both explosions. Government officials escorted the team to the scene of the explosions and re-iterated their longtime claims that the uprising is not a popular one but the work of terrorists.
Bombings
The bombings were in the
Kfar Sousa neighbourhood, south-west of Damascus city center. The state-owned news channel,
al-Ikhbariya al-Suriya, said the first car bomb exploded outside the offices of an unspecified security agency.
["UN Security Council condemns Syria suicide attacks"]
BBC News. 24 December 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011. When guards at a nearby
General Security Directorate compound went to inspect the first blast, the driver of another vehicle rammed the main gates and detonated the bomb it was carrying.
[ According to a Syrian journalist who lives in Kfar Sousa, gunfire was heard immediately following the blasts and windows up to 200 m (670 ft) away were shattered.][
The bombings killed 44 people and injured 166.]["Muslim Brotherhood denies Syria bombing claim"]
Agence France-Presse. 24 December 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011. Syrian state media reported that most of the casualties were civilians.
Perpetrators
Al-Qaeda
Immediately, the Syrian government claimed that al-Qaeda was behind these attacks. That Syrian claim was dismissed within a day by Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird as propaganda. Also the Syrian National Council dismissed it, as Syrian attempt to stoke Western fears for Islamist and extremist elements in the Syrian uprising.
Jabhat al-Nusra
In January 2013, commentator Jamie Dettmer for website ''The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'' stated that the Al-Nusra Front perpetrated the attack, and that the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center assumed it to be carried out by two female suicide bombers from Iraq.
Syrian government
Syrian opposition leaders accused the government of staging the attacks to justify its crackdown on the uprising. Also former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri
Saad El-Din Rafik Al-Hariri ( ar, سعد الدين رفيق الحريري, translit=Saʿd ad-Dīn Rafīq al-Ḥarīrī; born 18 April 1970) is a Lebanese-Saudi politician who served as the prime minister of Lebanon from 2009 to 2011 and 2016 ...
claimed the bombings were "engineered" by the Syrian government. The Free Syrian Army (FSA), the main anti-regime paramilitary group, accused the government of perpetrating the attack to gain sympathy from the Arab League and its observers, who had arrived just before the bombings.
The Syrian National Council said "the Syrian regime, alone, bears all the direct responsibility for the two terrorist explosions", adding that the government wanted to create the impression "that it faces danger coming from abroad and not a popular revolution demanding freedom and dignity".[
The ]Abdullah Azzam Brigades
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades ( ar, كتائب عبد الله عزام), or al-Qaeda in Lebanon, is a Sunni Islamist militant group, and al-Qaeda's branch in Lebanon. The group, which began operating in 2009, was founded by Saudi Saleh Al-Qa ...
, an affiliate of al Qaeda in Iraq that operates throughout the Middle East, on 28 December 2011 denied all involvement in the suicide attacks, and called the regime's blame on al-Qaeda an attempt to deflect attention from its own brutal crackdown on protesters: "The only truly responsible for them is he who is benefiting from them (…) the regime of al Assad and his intelligence agencies".
Syrian intelligence
Mohammed Tayfour – the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood's 'Deputy Guide'—told Al Arabiya
Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC.
The channel is a fl ...
television that Syrian intelligence created a fake MB website and published a fake statement.["Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood denies claiming responsibility for Damascus bombings"]
. Al Arabiya
Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC.
The channel is a fl ...
. 24 December 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011. He also said that, according to sources close to the Brotherhood, Syrian intelligence was behind the bombings.Breaking: Syrian Muslim Brotherhood claim of carrying out bombings 'fake'
English.ahram.org.eg. 24 December 2011. Retrieved on 24 December 2011.
See also
* List of bombings during the Syrian civil war
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Damascus bombings 2011
2011
Spree shootings in Syria
Suicide car and truck bombings in Syria
Terrorist incidents in Syria in 2011
Military operations of the Syrian civil war involving the al-Nusra Front
December 2011 events in Syria
2011 murders in Syria
Suicide bombings in 2011
Improvised explosive device bombings in Damascus