A deadly suicide bombing rocked the Syrian capital on Friday, killing 11 people and fuelling growing scepticism about hopes for the success of a UN-backed peace plan.
Amid the unrest, demonstrations were taking place after weekly Muslim prayers in flashpoint cities such as Hama, where shelling by government troops has reportedly killed more than 100 people since Monday. At least 11 people died and dozens were wounded by Friday’s blast, which hit as worshippers were leaving weekly prayers at the nearby Zein al-Abidin mosque in the central Midan district, state television said.
The report blamed “terrorists,” the term used by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to refer to rebels, and said civilians and security force members were among the casualties. Television footage showed gruesome images, including a severed hand, pieces of flesh and pools of blood. A separate blast hit an industrial zone of Damascus, but there were no reports of casualties, and three security agents were wounded in a blast in the coastal city of Banias, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Assad’s regime has repeatedly blamed “armed terrorist groups” for the violence, and for failing to abide by a putative ceasefire that went into force on April 12.
But UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the regime was in contravention of a six-point peace deal by keeping troops and heavy weapons in urban areas, and expressed alarm about reports of population centres being shelled. On Thursday, 22 people died in Syria, most of them civilians, the Britain-based Observatory said. And overnight clashes between troops and rebels in the central city of Homs killed at least one army deserter and wounded another 15, it added.
More than 9,000 people have died since a popular uprising erupted against Assad’s regime in March 2011, the UN says, while non-governmental groups put the figure at more than 11,100. The Local Coordination Committees, which organise protests, said a massive demonstration began at Sayid Ahmed Mosque in Damascus’ Qadam district on Friday, with security forces firing on it and making arrests. It also said several people were injured in the eastern oil city of Deir Ezzor after security forces opened gunfire to disperse a demonstration. Western nations have expressed strong doubts that the UN observers will be able to work, and the United States has already warned it may not renew the mission’s initial three-month mandate.
US Ambassador Susan Rice said the Security Council must be ready to order sanctions if Syria flouts commitments to halt violence. “We condemn what remains the government’s refusal to abide by its commitments, its continued intense use of heavy weaponry in Hama and elsewhere, which continues to result in large numbers of civilian deaths every day,” she said. The Syrian National Council, the main opposition group in exile, has called for an emergency Security Council meeting to discuss a resolution to protect civilians.
