Suicide bomb blasts kill 20 Syrian soldiers

Published on 11/11/2012 00:00

TWIN suicide bombings shook a southern Syrian city yesterday, killing at least 20 regime troops, an activist group said.

The early morning blasts in Daraa targeted an encampment for government forces in the city, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground.

The explosions were followed by clashes between regime forces and rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, said the Observatory. Its chief, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said at least 20 soldiers were killed in the blasts, but the claim could not be independently verified.

The state-run news agency SANA said the explosions caused multiple casualties and heavy damage.

Daraa was the birthplace of the uprising against Assad, which erupted in March 2011. The conflict began largely with peaceful protests against Assad’s rule but turned bloody after rebels took up arms in response to the regime’s crackdown.

The crisis has since morphed into a vicious civil war. In recent months, rebels have driven regime forces out of much of a pocket of north-western Syria and are battling troops in several key cities and towns. The fight has also taken on dangerous sectarian tones between a mainly Sunni opposition and a regime dominated by Assad’s minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

“I heard two very loud explosions and a third smaller one followed by bursts of gunfire,” said Mohammad Abu Houran, an activist in Daraa. He said the first two were likely car bombs and the 
third a mortar shell or rocket-propelled grenade.

Houran said black smoke could be seen over the high-security area, which was sealed off. Heavy shooting could be heard from the area for about ten minutes after the explosions, he added.

Bombings targeting state security institutions have become frequent in recent months, and military intelligence branches in Damascus and other cities have been hit.

The targeted area is considered a security zone that houses a branch of the country’s military intelligence as well as an officer’s club where dozens of regime forces are based. Around 30 tanks that regime forces use to shell Daraa and surrounding areas are also stationed in a nearby stadium, activists said.

Despite gaining control over large swathes of territory, particularly in the country’s north, Syria’s rebels are far outgunned by the military, which has increasingly relied on air strikes against rebel strongholds.

The Syrian opposition, which is deeply divided and plagued by rivalries, says it needs weapons to break the military stalemate and defeat Assad. The rebels’ western backers have been reluctant to send weapons to the opposition fighters, for fear they will fall into the wrong hands.