Deadly gunfire erupted around the headquarters compound of the Syrian army in the heart of Damascus on Wednesday following twin bombings targeting the heavily guarded complex.
Iran’s Press TV said the shooting killed one of its correspondents and wounded its Damascus bureau chief as they reported from the scene.
The Syrian army said all of its officers had escaped unharmed from the bombings targeting its general staff headquarters in the capital’s Umayyad Square district. It said there had been “indiscriminate” shooting around the perimeter of the compound and in adjacent streets. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that fierce clashes erupted leaving dead on both sides.
The spectacular assault on the command centre of the army’s operations against the 18-month rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad came as the worsening bloodshed dominated proceedings at the UN General Assembly in New York. “The terrorist explosions were caused by two bombs but the only damage was to property,” Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi told state television.
“All military commanders and army spokespeople are fine,” he added. A communique issued by the army also said there had been no casualties among its officers. “Armed terrorist groups with affiliations abroad this morning carried out a new act of terrorism by detonating a car bomb and another device on the edge of the general staff compound,” the statement said.
“All senior commanders and other officers are safe and sound, and none of them was wounded,” it. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were deaths on both sides as intense clashes erupted after the bombings.
Iran’s state-funded English-language Press TV said its correspondent Maya Nasser was killed and its Damascus bureau chief Hussein Mortada wounded in the gunfire.
It was the most spectacular attack on the Syrian security forces since a July 18 suicide bombing against a heavily guarded headquarters in Damascus killed four top regime officials, including defence minister General Daoud Rajha and Assad’s brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat.
It came as the Syrian opposition’s foreign backers ramped up calls for Assad’s exit at the UN General Assembly in New York.
