Car bomb outside Syrian capital kills one, injures four
The car bomb attack comes as US planners seek to create a new ‘Free Syrian Army’ in Raqqa
By
News Desk
– May 10 2023
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A car explosion at Barzeh police station in Damascus on 10 May, 2023. (Photo Credit Sana)
A car bomb detonated near a police station in the Damascus suburb of Barzeh, injuring four policemen and one officer, the Syrian Interior Ministry announced on 10 May.
The ministry said in a statement published on Telegram that a police vehicle exploded within the confines of the Barzeh police station in Damascus, injuring an officer and four policemen. The statement added that the injured were treated in the hospital and that “investigations are still ongoing to uncover the circumstances of the incident.”
“Today, Lieutenant Colonel Sharaf Al-Batal Muhannad Fandi Jadallah from the ranks of the Damascus Police Command – Barzeh Police Station was martyred after a vehicle exploded at Barzeh Police Station,” it added.
Damascus occasionally witnesses car bombs placed in civilian or military vehicles, though the reasons for the attacks and who the responsible parties are remain unknown.
In July 2012, US and Saudi-backed extremist fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) overran Barzeh as part of a broader assault on the Syrian capital.
In March 2014, the Syrian army and FSA militants reached a ceasefire agreement that largely prevented fighting until hostilities resumed in 2017, before the Idlib evacuation.
The Barzeh suburb has been largely peaceful since May 2017, when foreign-backed armed groups left the area and resettled in Idlib governate following an evacuation deal with the Syrian government.
Goods were regularly smuggled to the nearby Eastern Ghouta neighborhood through an extensive tunnel network built by the FSA in Barzeh, despite a Syrian army siege that lasted until an evacuation agreement with the Saudi-backed militant group Jaish al-Islam was also reached in 2018.
Israel has regularly bombed Damascus since that time, carrying out hundreds of airstrikes, including against targets in Damascus, Aleppo, and Homs governates.
Today’s car bombing in Barzeh comes as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the US army of recruiting members from extremist armed groups — including ISIS — to form a so-called ‘Free Syria Army’ in the northern city of Raqqa.
“According to our data, the Americans have started to create the so-called Free Syria Army near the Syrian city of Raqqa, engaging local Arab tribes, along with militants from ISIS and other terrorist organizations. The goal is clear: to use these militants against Syria’s legitimate authorities to destabilize the situation in the country,” Lavrov noted during a four-way meeting with his counterparts from Syria, Turkiye, and Iran.
US forces continue to occupy northeastern Syria along with the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to maintain leverage against the Syrian government. The US and SDF-occupied areas contain Syria’s crucial energy and grain-producing regions.
The US-led war on Syria since 2011 has killed an estimated half a million people, destroyed infrastructure, and displaced more than half of the population inside and outside the country.
Keywords
Barzeh
car bomb
Free Syrian Army
Syria
US
