Middle East: Discussion

[Husky]

Managed to forget the very item I wanted to post - not that anyone with a TV would have managed to miss this on the news.

Bombings in Syria on Friday (23 Dec). Killed some 44 people.

Apparently, there's lots of finger-pointing and counter finger-pointing (including allegations of a frame-up) on Who Did It.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16327483

24 December 2011 Last updated at 17:17 GMT

Syria bombs: Mourners pledge support for Assad



Thousands of people have attended the funerals of the 44 victims of Friday's twin bomb attacks in Syria's capital, Damascus, amid a strong show of support for President Bashar al-Assad.



[...]

'Popular revolution'

Syrian television carried live pictures of the victims' coffins, six marked "unknown", as they were lined up inside the Umayyad Mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites.



[color="#0000FF"]Mourners chanted "Death to America" and "We sacrifice our souls and blood for you, Bashar" during the funeral processions.[/color]



The attacks targeted two security buildings in Damascus Cleric Said al-Bouti said he hoped the attacks would lift "the veils on the eyes of the Arab League... so that they see who is the murderer and who is the victim".



Religious Affairs Minister Abdel Sattar al-Sayyed read a statement he said was from Christian and Muslim leaders: "We call upon the Syrian people to be aware that Syria is being targeted, and affirm that we stand with them in the face of this plot. We reject any sort of extremism."



No-one has said they carried out the suicide attacks, which targeted two security service bases in the Kafr Sousa area of Damascus. A total of 166 people were injured.



But opposition groups accused the government of orchestrating them.



[color="#0000FF"]The Syrian National Council said "the Syrian regime, alone, bears all the direct responsibility for the two terrorist explosions" as it wanted to give the impression "it faces danger from abroad and not a popular revolution".



The Muslim Brotherhood, part of the council, said the government had set up a fake website purporting to represent the Brotherhood and claiming responsibility for the bombings.[/color]



Senior Brotherhood figure Muhammad Riyad al-Shaqfah said: "They created a website which they called the MB website and posted a false statement. The website is false, and so is the statement."



[...]



[color="#0000FF"]More than 5,000 people have been killed and thousands more detained since anti-government protests erupted in March, the UN says.[/color]

The claims have not been independently verified, as most foreign media are banned from reporting in Syria.

Syria deaths

• More than 5,000 civilians have been killed
  
  
• UN denied access to Syria
  
  
• Information gathered from NGOs, sources in Syria and Syrian nationals who have fled
  
  
• The death toll is compiled as a list of names which the UN cross-references
  
  
• Vast majority of casualties were unarmed, but the figure may include armed defectors
  
  
• Tally does not include serving members of the security forces
  
  

All these "democratic" 'revolutions' that are staged left, right and centre sure are deadly. Must be another case of AmeriKKKa's kiss of death.