Israel Matzav

Syria blaming Israel, US for Damascus car bombing UPDATED with English-language video

This post has now been updated with an English-language video from CNN. Please scroll down.

A powerful car bomb went off in a taxi in Damascus, Syria earlier Saturday, killing 17 Iranian pilgrims. The Syrians are blaming little Satan and big Satan as usual.

Israel and the US are responsible for the car bomb which exploded in Damascus, killed 17 people and wounding 14 others, several Syrian political commentators and media outlets claimed Saturday.

The explosion, they said, was aimed at Iranian nationals, Army Radio reported. They based their allegations on the fact the street on which the car exploded led to Saydah Zeinab, a pilgrimage site for Shi'ite Muslims from Iran or Lebanon.

The car packed with 200 kilograms of explosives blew up in a southern neighborhood near the junction to the city's international airport, shattering car and apartment windows, TV reported. The charred booby-trapped car was seen sitting in the street near a primary school as firefighters stood near a wide crater believed to be caused by the blast.

Syrian Interior Minister Bassam Abdul-Majid called the bombing a "terrorist act" and said all the victims were civilians. Anti-terror units were investigating.

"We cannot accuse any party. There are ongoing investigations that will lead us to those who carried it out," Abdul-Majid told state TV.

I don't believe Israel did it. If we had, we would have gotten a significant target. Israel has no interest in killing Iranian civilians. Here's a video of the aftermath (the tape came from Russian television, so unless you speak Russian you will not understand it). Let's go to the videotape.



More on this story here and here.

UPDATE 11:24 PM

I now have an English language video from CNN so let's go to the videotape.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:39 PM