At least 12 members of Syria’s security forces have been killed in two suicide car bombings targeting a military intelligence headquarters in the south-central city of Palmyra, a watchdog said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that more than 20 troops were also wounded, some in critical condition, after Wednesday’s simultaneous attacks against the intelligence branch and a nearby security building. It said rebel fighters attacked the buildings soon after the double blasts, while the army deployed security forces in the city renowned for its Roman ruins and which has been designated as a world heritage site by UNESCO.
A shootout around the intelligence buildings erupted after the bombings leaving eight civilians wounded as clashes broke out elsewhere in the central Homs province city. Heavy fighting has also erupted in Damascus as rebels launched an offensive against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, breaking a lull in the conflict, opposition activists said. Authorities in Damascus closed the main Abbasid Square and the Fares al-Khoury thoroughfare as fighters attacked roadblocks and fortifications with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.
“The areas of Jobar, Zamalka, al-Zablatani and parts of Qaboun and the ring road have become a battleground,” activist Fida Mohammad said from the district of Qaboun. Another activist said an army tank stationed at the main al-Kabbas roadblock on the ring road had been destroyed. Residents reported explosions across the east and north of the capital. In Jobar, a working-class Sunni Muslim area adjacent to Abbasid Square, mosque speakers chanted “God is Greatest” in support of opposition fighters who attacked roadblocks in the neighbourhood, activists told the Reuters news agency.
They said tanks stationed on the edge of the central district of Midan, just outside the walls of Old Damascus, shelled southern districts of the city. Syrian state television said: “Our noble army is continuing its operations against the fighters in Irbeen, Zamalka and Harasta and Sbeineg, destroying the criminal lairs”. Assad’s symbols of power came under attack in Palmyra, 220km northeast of Damascus, on the main road to the oil-producing east of the country.
