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Two suicide bombers have struck the heart of the Syrian capital Damascus, killing at least 14 people and wounding at least 31 others, pro-government television channel al-Ikhbariya has reported. “Two suicide bombers attacked Marjeh square causing casualties and material damage,” the broadcaster said yesterday morning.
The channel screened images showing badly damaged vehicles and bloodied pavements. “It seems the terrorists have struck again,” said a television presenter, using the government’s term to refer to rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s troops.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the blasts, but said they were caused by explosive devices planted in the neighbourhood. “Several people were wounded by two explosive device blasts in Marjeh square in Damascus,” said the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on opposition activists and others for its reports.
Also yesterday, eight rockets launched from Syria hit the town of Hermel in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold. Security officials told Al Jazeera that at least one person was injured.
Such attacks have escalated ever since Syrian troops backed by fighters from Hezbollah, an ally of Assad, retook the Syrian town of Qusayr last week.
Lebanon’s government has a policy of neutrality in Syria’s conflict, but powerful Hezbollah has recently played a crucial role in the fighting in Syria.
While on Monday, an amateur video posted online showed rebels seizing control of an airbase in northern Aleppo province.
Government forces backed by Hezbollah are reportedly sending reinforcements to the area.
Meanwhile, the Gulf Arab states have promised sanctions against members of the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah in retaliation for its intervention in Syria’s ongoing civil war in support of President Assad.
The six Sunni-led members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) issued a condemnation on Monday, according to a statement from the GCC secretariat carried by the Saudi Press Agency.
“The GCC ministerial council has decided to take measures against those enlisted in the party [Hezbollah] residing in the member states, whether with regard to their residencies or their financial and commercial dealings,” it added, without giving any specific details.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar, both GCC members and US allies, have been explicit in calling for Assad to go, and have been arming the mostly Sunni rebels seeking to oust him and his mostly Alawite regime, members of an offshoot of Shia Islam.
The rebels suffered one of their biggest setbacks last week when Hezbollah fighters helped Assad’s forces to retake the Syrian border town of Qusair, which controls vital supply lines.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said last week that Syria and Lebanon faced a common threat from radical Sunni Islamists.
GCC member Bahrain, which has struggled to quell a Shia-led uprising in its own country, has called Hezbollah a “terrorist” organisation and banned its citizens from having any contact with the group. — AFP
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