{"id":875,"date":"2008-09-27T14:36:04","date_gmt":"2008-09-27T14:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=875"},"modified":"2008-09-27T18:47:08","modified_gmt":"2008-09-27T18:47:08","slug":"car-bomb-in-damascus-and-rise-of-salafi-groups-in-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/car-bomb-in-damascus-and-rise-of-salafi-groups-in-region\/","title":{"rendered":"Car Bomb in Damascus and Rise of Salafi Groups in Region"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"Car Bomb\" src=\"http:\/\/syria-news.com\/pic\/big%20size\/kazaz_bomp\/18.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"295\" height=\"195\" \/>The car bomb that exploded this morning in Syria is the\u00a0first successful &#8220;al-Qaida&#8221; type terrorist attack in Syria in the last 10 years. Two theories are developing on little evidence so far. One is that the bombers were targeting <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/nationworld\/ats-bc-ml--syria-explosion5thld-writethrusep27,0,7524351.story\">a state security center<\/a>. The other theory is that they were targetting Shiites. So far we don&#8217;t know what the truth is.<\/p>\n<p>Photo: The only site to show photos of the actual explosion is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.syria-news.com\/readnews.php?sy_seq=83046\">here at Syria-News<\/a> (Thanks Idaf)<\/p>\n<p>In general, Syria has been one of the safest major Middle Eastern capitals. The US State Department has maintained a travel advisory against Syria, but that is largely for political reasons. Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Israel-Palestine, Saudi Arabia, etc. are much more dangerous than Syria and have suffered more al-Qaida attacks and dead Americans than Syria. It should be said that no American has been killed by terrorists in Syria throughout the entire history of the country. At least I don&#8217;t know of one. Perhaps\u00a0a\u00a0Syria Comment reader will correct me?<\/p>\n<p>The fear sparked by this attack is that terrorism has returned to Syria. During the late 1970s and early 1980s Syria experienced a steady and violent period of terrorist strikes, carried out by the radical wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.<\/p>\n<p>There have\u00a0been a number of political assassinations and several failed terrorist attacks in the last decade, but extremist Sunni groups have not been successful in Syria. Some of the assassinations and explosions are commonly attributed to Israel. See al-Jazeera&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/english.aljazeera.net\/news\/middleeast\/2008\/09\/20089278733903291.html\">Timeline: Syria attacks<\/a>. In this group we can place the most recent\u00a0 Mughniya assassination, the authorship of which is disputed, the &#8220;nuclear&#8221; facility bombing in Sept 2007, the September 2004 car bombing in southern Damascus that killed an official of the Palestinian Hamas movement and three passers-by.<\/p>\n<p>The al-Qaida type explosions or attacks are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>April 2004:<\/strong>Three assailants and empty UN building in\u00a0Mezzeh.\u00a0Apoliceman and a woman passer-by die in the gun battle. The government blames al-Qaeda, but the attack is claimed by a group which says it wants to avenge the government crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in Hama in 1982.<\/li>\n<li><strong>September 2006:<\/strong> The US embassy was attacked by three armed men, which was botched. All three were killed\u00a0and a member of the Syrian security forces was killed and 14 people wounded in a failed attempt to set off a car bomb.<\/li>\n<li>There have also been a number of round-ups and gun battles between security forces and &#8220;al-Qaida&#8221; types, but not successful extremist opperations that have done much damage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>According to the official <a href=\"http:\/\/news.xinhuanet.com\/english\/2008-09\/27\/content_10122565.htm\">SANA news agency<\/a>, the blast occurred on the Mahlaq road in southern Damascus in an area crowded with civilian passers-by.\u00a0The site was near the Sayeda Zeinab neighborhood, which is popular with Shiite pilgrims from Iran, Lebanon and Iraq. No group has yet taken responsibility for the bombing. It may have been an Iraqi Sunni group targetting Shiites or a home-grown Syrian group. We don&#8217;t know.<\/p>\n<p>The following excellent story by Nir Rosen explaining how the May 2008 Shiite takeover of Sunni West Beirut has boosted recruiting for extremist Sunni groups in Lebanon who are dreaming of revenge.<\/p>\n<p>The Salafi movement in Lebanon is explored by Nir Rosen in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/exchange.ou.edu\/owa\/redir.aspx?C=a835aa42e7f6442e84347364fa62e614&amp;URL=http%3a%2f%2fthenational.ae%2farticle%2f20080926%2fREVIEW%2f410798081%2f1008\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>National, here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230;..\u201cI never carried a rifle before,\u201d Walid went on, \u201cbut since the Shiites attacked I started carrying one.\u201d He wore an vest laden with extra ammunition and several American hand grenades that he said cost $50 a piece. Walid claimed he had forced Shiite officials at the Masnaa border crossing to stop working there. This was why security officers were paying a visit to the town. His thuggish friend put it succinctly: \u201cWe and the state are opposed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore May 8 I used to love life,\u201d Walidsaid, \u201cI would never sleep, I was into women, drugs, alcohol, I was living life to the fullest. Something happened in my heart I cant explain to anybody. Since May 8 I am a different person. I started praying five times a day, feeling more confident when I\u2019m fighting.\u201d Now he fantasised about becoming a suicide bomber. \u201cI should be doing martyrdom operations too,\u201d he told me, his eyes darting to Omar, looking for approval. \u201cI would like to blow myself up during Nasrallah\u2019s speech when there is a large group of people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He got so much pleasure from shooting, he said, and he surmised that if he went on a martyrdom operation his soul would feel even better. Omar, for his part, said he expected suicide operations to begin against Shiites in Lebanon. \u201cI wont be surprised if it happened, and we are waiting for it to happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Omar didn\u2019t seem to have a job, but I soon realised he had a lucrative underground business selling weapons&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>Opponents of Hizbollah like to describe it as a state within a state. But outside of Beirut there are few signs of any state in Lebanon, or any authority willing to assert itself \u2013 and for Sunnis, in Majd al Anjar and elsewhere, there is no Hizbollah to step into the vacuum&#8230;..<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;.Like many salafis I have met, Saadiwas openly envious of Hezbollah\u2019s confrontation with Israel but contemptuous of its failure to fight beyond Lebanon\u2019s borders. \u201cHizbollah protects the Jewish border with orders from the Syrian regime,\u201d he said. The goal of Hizbollah\u2019s \u201ctakeover\u201d of Beirut was to weaken Sunnis in the Arab world, he argued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSunnis have woken up,\u201d Saadi continued. \u201cSunnis around the world are mad after what happened in Beirut. The result will be a thousand Zarqawis going after Hizbollah.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/exchange.ou.edu\/owa\/redir.aspx?C=1803511e204e40b5aea82fa837fe9980&amp;URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ips.org%2fblog%2fjimlobe%2f%3fp%3d189\" target=\"_blank\">Jim Lobe, here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/exchange.ou.edu\/owa\/redir.aspx?C=1803511e204e40b5aea82fa837fe9980&amp;URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ips.org%2fblog%2fjimlobe%2f%3fp%3d189\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a>&#8220;McCain\u2019s surrogates,\u00a0Max Boot\u00a0and Richard Williamson, told a gathering of the hawkish Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) in Virgina last weekend that the Republican candidate,\u00a0if elected, would not become actively engaged in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and discourage Israeli-Syrian peace efforts, according to an <a href=\"https:\/\/exchange.ou.edu\/owa\/redir.aspx?C=1803511e204e40b5aea82fa837fe9980&amp;URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.jta.org%2fcgi-bin%2fiowa%2fnews%2farticle%2f2008092220080922bootdanzig.html\" target=\"_blank\">important article <\/a>by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency\u2019s excellent Ron Kampeas. Consistent with my last post, Abrams\u2019 influence on both McCain positions is apparent.<\/p>\n<p>As noted by Kampeas, Williamson\u2019s endorsement of those positions \u201csignified how closely the McCain campaign has allied itself with neo-conservatives.\u201d Frankly, the position of those foreign-policy realists who have endorsed McCain and who, according to the mainstream media, are supposed to be advising him \u2014 I\u2019m thinking of James Baker or Richard Armitage as examples \u2014 is becoming increasingly untenable in this campaign.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/c.moreover.com\/click\/here.pl?z1617983829&amp;z=950243428\">Illawarra Merc: Slow road for Damascus<\/a><br \/>\n2008-09-26<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230;..\u00a0\u00a0Adam Sandler&#8217;s recent comedy You Don&#8217;t Mess With The Zohan , a farce glorifying the manoeuvres of a virile Israeli Mossad agent turned hairdresser who ends up falling for a Palestinian beauty.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For me, this was the best film of the year,&#8221; says Ali Safar, a Damascus resident and mobile-phone dealer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yes, I know it was about an Israeli, and I think maybe this was a film about good Israelis, but I thought it was funny.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Given that there remains an officialstate of war between Syria and Israel, and that Israel is the target of almost daily vilification in the Syrian media, Safar&#8217;s attitudes, and that of his friends who enjoyed the movie, seem surprisingly open&#8230;..<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;.&#8221;My only thing with Israel is they have some land that I think belongs to us &#8211; the Golan Heights,&#8221; says Safar, the mobile-phone dealer. &#8220;I think we can work that one out. Then, we have peace and who knows, maybe I go there and they come here.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/afp.google.com\/article\/ALeqM5iF1tXKPCgmC4bMATm3GZ-qqmCEyQ\">Rice and Mualem Meet in New York<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>DAMASCUS (AFP) \u2014 Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has met his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice at the United Nations for talks on Iraq, Lebanon, and the Middle East peace process, the official SANA news agency reported on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>It said the meeting was held \u201cfollowing a request by the US secretary of state and on the sidelines of a meeting by the international Quartet for the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SANA said Turkish-mediated indirect talks launched in May between Syria and Israel were also discussed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.state.gov\/secretary\/rm\/2008\/09\/110352.htm\">State Dept:\u00a0 Interview With Raghida Dergham of Al Hayat<\/a>;<br \/>\n2008-09-26<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong> Why did you subcontract the relationship to \u2013 with Syria to President Sarkozy of France?<\/p>\n<p><strong>SECRETARY RICE:<\/strong> We haven\u2019t subcontracted anything.\u00a0We\u2019ve been in very close contact with the French.\u00a0And look, the Syrians \u2013 we and the Syrians do have contact.\u00a0We have a Charg\u00e9 in Damascus who continues the contacts.\u00a0We have diplomatic relations with Syria.\u00a0I\u2019ve met with Foreign Minister Mualem before.<\/p>\n<p><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong> About this \u2013<\/p>\n<p><strong>SECRETARY RICE:<\/strong> No, no, no, during the neighbors conference when we were in Sharm el-Sheikh.\u00a0Look, the relationship with Syria very much turns on how things are going.\u00a0We\u2019re not \u2013<\/p>\n<p><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong> Where?<\/p>\n<p><strong>SECRETARY RICE:<\/strong> Well, it is true that foreign fighters are down.\u00a0The number of foreign fighters crossing into Iraq is down.\u00a0Now, I think that is really because it\u2019s not really all that fruitful to be a foreign fighter in Iraq any longer, because through coalition efforts and the efforts of the Iraqis themselves, the security situation in Iraq has stabilized.\u00a0It\u2019s fragile, but it\u2019s stabilized.\u00a0It is true that Syria and Israel are in \u2013 in direct discussions, something that we\u2019ve supported.\u00a0We were the ones who invited Syria to the Annapolis conference.\u00a0So France should have discussions with Syria.\u00a0We have them when they are appropriate.<\/p>\n<p><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong> When is that?\u00a0When \u2013<\/p>\n<p><strong>MR. MCCORMACK:<\/strong> Raghida, this is going to have to be the last question.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The car bomb that exploded this morning in Syria is the\u00a0first successful &#8220;al-Qaida&#8221; type terrorist attack in Syria in the last 10 years. Two theories are developing on little evidence so far. One is that the bombers were targeting a state security center. The other theory is that they were targetting Shiites. So far we [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[50,22,31,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-extremist-groups","category-lebanon","category-shiites","category-sunnis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Car Bomb in Damascus and Rise of Salafi Groups in Region - Syria Comment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/car-bomb-in-damascus-and-rise-of-salafi-groups-in-region\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Car Bomb in Damascus and Rise of Salafi Groups in Region - Syria Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The car bomb that exploded this morning in Syria is the\u00a0first successful &#8220;al-Qaida&#8221; type terrorist attack in Syria in the last 10 years. Two theories are developing on little evidence so far. One is that the bombers were targeting a state security center. The other theory is that they were targetting Shiites. So far we [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/car-bomb-in-damascus-and-rise-of-salafi-groups-in-region\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Syria Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-09-27T14:36:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2008-09-27T18:47:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/syria-news.com\/pic\/big%20size\/kazaz_bomp\/18.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joshua\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@joshua_landis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@joshua_landis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joshua\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/car-bomb-in-damascus-and-rise-of-salafi-groups-in-region\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/car-bomb-in-damascus-and-rise-of-salafi-groups-in-region\/\",\"name\":\"Car Bomb in Damascus and Rise of Salafi Groups in Region - Syria Comment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/car-bomb-in-damascus-and-rise-of-salafi-groups-in-region\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/car-bomb-in-damascus-and-rise-of-salafi-groups-in-region\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/syria-news.com\/pic\/big%20size\/kazaz_bomp\/18.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-09-27T14:36:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-09-27T18:47:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3b31d23576e1b8c0928811e638957c80\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/car-bomb-in-damascus-and-rise-of-salafi-groups-in-region\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/car-bomb-in-damascus-and-rise-of-salafi-groups-in-region\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/car-bomb-in-damascus-and-rise-of-salafi-groups-in-region\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/syria-news.com\/pic\/big%20size\/kazaz_bomp\/18.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/syria-news.com\/pic\/big%20size\/kazaz_bomp\/18.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/car-bomb-in-damascus-and-rise-of-salafi-groups-in-region\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Car Bomb in Damascus and Rise of Salafi Groups in Region\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Syria Comment\",\"description\":\"Syrian politics, history, and religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3b31d23576e1b8c0928811e638957c80\",\"name\":\"Joshua\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.joshualandis.com\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/joshua_landis\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/author\/syriacomment\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Car Bomb in Damascus and Rise of Salafi Groups in Region - Syria Comment","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/car-bomb-in-damascus-and-rise-of-salafi-groups-in-region\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Car Bomb in Damascus and Rise of Salafi Groups in Region - Syria Comment","og_description":"The car bomb that exploded this morning in Syria is the\u00a0first successful &#8220;al-Qaida&#8221; type terrorist attack in Syria in the last 10 years. 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