Violence in Syria clouds UN

UNITED NATIONS / MOSCOW

Syrian soldiers stand at the site of twin bombings near the army’s command headquarters in Damascus. Bombs were heard several kilometers away. AFP photo

Twin blasts targeting Syria’s army command headquarters rocked Damascus yesterday and left 4 killed, 14 wounded, a day after Qatar’s emir has called for an Arab intervention in Syria.

Syria’s state-run news agency, SANA, said the explosions struck near the Omayyad Square. The army command building was in flames, sending huge columns of smoke. State television showed images of a white van exploding on the roadside next to the building housing the headquarters, and a second blast inside the compound.

Press TV journalist killed
Four security guards were killed and 14 civilians and security personnel were wounded, Syrian state television quoted a military source as saying. The Free Syrian Army, the main rebel force fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, claimed responsibility for the attack. Meanwhile, Iranian Press TV said one of its correspondents, 33-year-old Maya Nasser, a Syrian national, killed by sniper fire in an exchange of fire in the area following the blasts. Hussein Mortada, a Lebanese national who heads the bureau in Damascus for both Press TV and another Iranian network, Al-Alam, was wounded at the same spot.

The twin blasts comes after Qatar’s emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani called for an Arab intervention in Syria and a no-fly zone to protect the country’s refugees, urging Arab action because of the failure of the U.N. Security Council and other international efforts to end the conflict. “It is better for Arab countries themselves to intervene out of their humanitarian, political and military duties and do what is necessary to stop the bloodshed,” al-Thani, told the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 25.