Israel Matzav

Syrian funeral turns into pro-Assad demonstration

A mass funeral for 44 people killed in a double suicide bombing in Damascus turned into a pro-Assad demonstration on Saturday.

Let's go to the videotape.



No one has taken 'credit' for Friday's attacks. A supposed claim of responsibility by the Muslim Brotherhood has been denied.

A Brotherhood spokesperson said that the claim was "completely fabricated under our name on the Internet," according to MSN news.

The spokesperson cast the blame on the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has been battling anti-regime protests for nine months in a conflict that has killed thousands.

...

Some Assad opponents said the attacks could have been staged by the government itself.

The funerals on Saturday turned into pro-Assad rallies in which mourners called for revenge and condemned Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani whose country, once an ally of Assad, is now one of his main critics.

The crowd, carrying posters of Assad and Syrian flags, chanted "We want your head, Hamad" and "We sacrifice our souls and blood for you Bashar" and "God, Syria and Bashar only."

The coffins, wrapped in Syrian flags, were lined up inside the city's historic gilded 8th century Umayyad Mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites. Many were marked "unknown".

Both Muslim and Christian clerics attended the funerals which were led by the most senior Sunni Muslim cleric Mufti Ahmad Hassoun, whose son was shot dead by gunmen in the northern province of Idlib in October.

Syria's state television aired live footage of the funeral processions.

And they also chanted 'death to America.' Aren't you glad that Obama spent two years trying to 'engage' with Assad?

YNet adds:

The Al-Arabiya news network later reported that that the Muslim Brotherhood has denied the charge: "The Syrian intelligence has opened a fake website in order to involve the movement in the terror attacks."

Meanwhile, activists reported that the bodies of four Syrians who have been arrested overnight were found Saturday with signs of torture in the restive Homs province.

"The corpses of four citizens were found this morning in the streets of the town of Hula and a fifth citizen was found in a critical condition," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

With all the complaints about Israel, far more Muslims are killed by Muslims every year.

Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Muslim Brotherhood, Syrian uprising

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:47 PM