Al-jazeera reporting blasts and heavy shelling in SYRIA DAMASCUS!!!

[keithyboy]

I guess it is on!!

[Tinoire]

1. PLEASE verify this for those of us at work

:scared:

[Beetwasher]

2. Who's Shelling Who?

Is the US shelling Syria???

[Az_lefty]

3. WTF?????

I thought we were bombing Falluja?????

[fryguy]

4. crap-diggity

WTF!

[Screaming Lord Byron]

5. Could conventional artillery reach Damascus from the Golan Heights?

Or is this mis-reported terrorism?

[TN al]

6. Why am I seeing no reports of this...

...on CNN, faux, or msrnc? NPR just mentioned it in passing.

[redqueen]

7. Oh $hit!!!!!!!

I hope this is wrong... please, God, please... *prays*

[fryguy]

8. gun fight, not shelling

reported 3:13pm

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/27/syria/index.html

[Tinoire]

11. Thanks / from your link

CNN) -- An hour-long battle between police and gunmen broke out Tuesday in the Syrian capital of Damascus near the Iranian and Canadian embassies, sources said.


At least six explosions preceded the gunfire at about 8 p.m. (1 p.m. ET), according to witnesses.

Syrian TV quoted security sources as saying a "group of terrorists engaged in random fire with Syrian security forces."

The report said Syrian security forces had the situation under control. Police had sealed off the area.

A restaurant and a building partly used by the United Nations were heavily damaged, witnesses said.

The gunbattle was along Meze Road, in the rear of the Iranian Embassy,<snip>

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/27/syria/index.html

[keithyboy]

9. Don't know the details...just a banner on Al-Jazeera

My guess is it might be some Israeli action under cover of the US leveling of Fallujah but there are no details right now. Will post more as they come up.

[fryguy]

14. nice to immediately suspect Israel

I know so many people on DU love to hate Israel and attribute any ill in the world to the Jews, but lets not jump to condemnation before any information is known.....

CNN reporting that it was a gun battle between Syrian security forces and "terrorists" in the vicinity of the Iranian and Canadian embassies.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/27/syria/index.html

[Screaming Lord Byron]

16. Let's not go there.

Syria is next door to Israel. Israel and Syria are historic enemies. Don't be surprised if people jump to that conclusion. It may well be someone else of course, but it's fairly natural to suspect Israel, given the history of the area.

[RafterMan]

21. It's also natural

To suspect a dispute with Iran over Lebanon, a dispute with Turkey over the Kurds or a dispute with one of Syria's native Islamist groups.

So yes, let's not go there until we know more.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

25. Absolutely. I'm just trying to keep the knee-jerk I/P fight out of GD,

I take no side in that clusterfuck.

[RafterMan]

31. Oh

That's what bothered me about the original post. There should be a special arena for people who feel the need to constantly fight over that issue.

I didn't realize you were trying to be a peacemaker. Sorry.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

32. A very hamfisted peacemaker, I'm afraid.

[charlie]

33. There is one

The I/P forum, which is where this thread will get whisked to if it gets derailed with pro/anti/Israeli fisticuffs.

[fryguy]

22. Tell me not to go there?

I'm just pointing out that leaping to accusations does nothing to help and sort out a situation. If you feel the need to incriminate Israel, or any country/entity, at the moment anything occurs, then be prepared for someone to call attention to other news sources that are reporting information that would seem to contradict your allegations.

Or is this a freeper site now where only one point of view is permitted?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

23. No, let's just not bring the I/P firefight into GD.

That's all I want.

[fryguy]

26. fair enough

<refraining from further ranting....>

[Screaming Lord Byron]

27. Sorry if I was harsh. I take no side in that argument.

[fryguy]

35. No worries

sorry for leaping into the fray so quickly.....sometimes forget that I'm not in I/P....

[reel progressive]

28. I agree

Israel has never attacked Syria and is not hostile to it. Israel is a peaceful nation that never threatens any other country let alone attack one.

[TN al]

10. NPR reported it is in an area...

...where the british and canadian embassies are.

[Mandate My Ass]

12. BBC says 3-5 car bomb blasts

near Iranian and Canadian embassies followed by the eruption of gunfire. Oh jeez, first Fallujah now this.

[keithyboy]

13. This could be part of the blowblack from Fallujah...all western embassies

in Arab nations should be closed. They are targets for the blowback.

[Canadian_moderate]

19. Isn't Syria mostly Shi'ite Muslim?

Fallujah is mainly Sunni Muslim and Saddam loyalists.

Good to see that Syria is fighting extremists.

[RafterMan]

34. No

They're sunni. But the government is Nasserite leftovers (secular, pan-arab nationalists), so they have no love for the jihadis.

[Renew Deal]

15. Shelling?

Who is doing the shelling? That implies tanks, mortars.

[Tinoire]

17. Reuters / More than 15 blasts

Blasts heard in Syrian capital Damascus - witnesses
By Joseph Yackley

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - More than 15 blasts and heavy shooting shook the Syrian capital, Damascus, late on Tuesday, Arab television stations reported.

Al Jazeera television said the blasts and shooting were heard from a western district of Damascus where it said the British ambassador's residence and the Saudi embassy are located.

A foreign student studying in Damascus said:

"We were working in the library and heard lots of gunfire and explosions. Everyone was terrified and we ran out of the building to see what was happening," he told Reuters. "We saw some big puffs of smoke, but things are closed off now."

<snip>

Mezza is a well-to-do district with several embassies.


http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp;:408eac5a:e7e371fcc76172a?type=worldNews&locale=en_IN&storyID=4958923

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. A terrorist attack in Syria?

I thought the Syrians were the terrorists?

:sarcasm off:

[fryguy]

24. nice if we could all live in bush-world

where such lines could be drawn....those maps that KKKarl gives him make eveything so cut-and-dry....too bad it ain't so....

[Tinoire]

20. Haaretz Update

22:14 One terrorist killed, another wounded in attack on United Nations office in Damascus, says diplomatic source

21:40 Explosions shake Fallujah as U.S. army planes strike targets in Iraqi city

21:19 Al-Jazeera television reports Syrian security forces arrest one attacker, who used grenades, machine gun

21:15 Syrian TV reports that Syrian security forces clash with `terrorist band` in capital of Damascus

21:12 Witnesses tell Al-Arabiya television that over 15 blasts were heard in Damascus

20:55 Senior Sharon official says PM has no plans to resign if withdrawal plan fails May 2 Likud referendum

20:48 Al-Jazeera television reports blasts, heavy shooting heard in Syrian capital of Damascus

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/ShTickers.html

[fryguy]

29. AP: Syrian Forces Clash With 'Terrorist Band'

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=716&e=4&u=/ap

<snip>

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrian security forces clashed with a "terrorist band" late Tuesday in Damascus, Syrian media reported after explosions and gunfire were heard in a neighborhood where foreign diplomats live and work. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Syrian television, in a brief statement, said security forces gave chase and were in control of the situation. It gave no other details. Syria's official news agency SANA, quoting a security source, said "a terrorist band shot this evening indiscriminately in the Mazza area."

It added that security forces "confronted it and were in full control of the situation."

<more>

[reel progressive]

30. Good

We must stand by Syria in its fight against terrorism. Syria has a right to defend itself against terrorists.

[Canadian_moderate]

36. I'm not sure why they're on part of the "axis of evil"

according to Bush. Syria seems to be aiding the USA.

Syrian-Canadian Maher Arar was held captive and tortured in Syria for 10 months or so after the USA deposrted him to Jordan and Jordan sent him on to Syria.

The RCMP and CSIS were also alleged to be secretly involved and Arar is suing for million$.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040427/ARAR27/TPNational/Canada

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/print/CTVNews/1082635956328_6?hub=Canada&subhub=PrintStory