Syria: Dozens Killed, More Than 170 Wounded In Damascus Bomb Blasts (VIDEO)

BEIRUT, May 10 (Reuters) - Twin bomb blasts in the Syrian capital Damascus killed 40 people and wounded more than 170, Syrian state television said on Thursday.

One of the rush hour explosions hit a district that houses a well known military intelligence complex involved in President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on a 14-month uprising. State media said earlier the majority of the casualties were civilians. (Reporting by Oliver Holmes, Editing by Diana Abdallah)

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Car Bomb In Damascus

Syrian policemen inspect the site of a car bomb explosion on Mazzeh highway in the capital Damascus on July 13, 2012. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/GettyImages)

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Susan Rice Condemns Killings

U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice tweets:

@ AmbassadorRice : #Syria regime turned artillery, tanks and helicopters on its own men & women. It unleashed knife-wielding shabiha gangs on its own children.

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Russia Condemns Massacre

Russia says international envoy Kofi Annan will visit Moscow on Monday to discuss the ongoing crisis in Syria. Russia also called for an inquiry into an alleged massacre that took place in the village of Tramseh on Thursday. "We have no doubt that this wrongdoing serves the interests of those powers that are not seeking peace but persistently seek to sow the seeds of interconfessional and civilian conflict on Syrian soil," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement, according to Reuters. Moscow did not apportion blame for the killings.

Read more on Reuters.com.

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Footage Of Massacre Aftermath (WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS DISTURBING IMAGES)

The Associated Press obtained a video that purports to show the aftermath of an alleged massacre in the village of Tramseh, near Hama.

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How Do Syrian Fighters Get Their Arms?

How do Syria's fighters get their arms? An overview put together by Reuters explains that there are three gateways to the country -- Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq.

Syrian rebels are smuggling small arms into Syria through a network of land and sea routes involving cargo ships and trucks moving through Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq, maritime intelligence and Free Syrian Army (FSA) officers say.

Western and regional powers deny any suggestion they are involved in gun running. Their interest in the sensitive border region lies rather in screening to ensure powerful weapons such as surface to air missiles do not find their way to Islamist or other militants.

Read the full report here.

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Activists Report New Massacre (WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS)

This citizen journalism image made from video provided by Shaam News Network SNN, purports to show a victim wounded by violence that, according to anti-regime activists, was carried out by government forces in Tremseh, Syria about 15 kilometers (nine miles) northwest of the central city of Hama, Thursday, July 12, 2012. The accounts, some of which claim more than 200 people were killed in the violence Thursday, could not be independently confirmed, but would mark the latest in a string of brutal offensives by Syrian forces attempting to crush the rebellion. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network, SNN)

This citizen journalism image made from video provided by Shaam News Network SNN, purports to show a man mourning a victim killed by violence that, according to anti-regime activists, was carried out by government forces in Tremseh, Syria about 15 kilometers (nine miles) northwest of the central city of Hama, Thursday, July 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network, SNN)

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Hama Revolutionary Council: More Than 220 Killed

According to the Hama Revolutionary Council, a Syrian opposition group, more than 220 people have been killed in a new alleged massacre in Taramseh. Earlier reports said more than 100 people were killed. "More than 220 people fell today in Taramseh," the Council said in a statement. "They died from bombardment by tanks and helicopters, artillery shelling and summary executions."

Fadi Sameh, an opposition activist from Taramseh, told Reuters he had left the town before the reported massacre but was in touch with residents. "It appears that Alawite militiamen from surrounding villages descended on Taramseh after its rebel defenders pulled out, and started killing the people. Whole houses have been destroyed and burned from the shelling," Sameh claimed.

Read more on Reuters.com.

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Syrian State TV: 'Large Numbers Of Terrorists Killed'

Syrian activist Rami Jarrah tweets that Syrian State TV has confirmed deaths in Tremseh. "Terrorists" is often the term used by the Syrian regime for opposition forces.

@ AlexanderPageSY : Syrian State TV: clashes between security apparatus & terrorists in #Tremseh of #Hama leaves large numbers of terrorists killed #Syria

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Update: Death Toll In New Massacre Reportedly More Than 200

@ Reuters : UPDATE: DEATH TOLL IN SYRIAN FORCES' ATTACK ON VILLAGE IN SYRIA'S HAMA REGION IS MORE THAN 200, MOSTLY CIVILIANS - OPPOSITION ACTIVISTS

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Reports Of New Massacre In Hama

@ Reuters : At least 100 killed in Syrian village: opposition activists http://t.co/FG3fJwu8

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Comments

[AmeenaJ]

12:54 AM on 05/12/2012

Its interesting that all of these bombings suddenly started to happen after the U.N. monitors arrived; for all the months before that there were no bombings except when the Arab League arrived. Its also interesting that anyone could sneak in a bomb that size when there are security check points all over the place. Why don't the U.N. monitors conduct an investigation?

[vascopyjama]

10:24 PM on 05/10/2012

The Syrians were warned this would happen. By the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent men, women and children, the have created a vacuum that the foreign militants are rushing in to fill. In a way it's karma. They never tried to stop the flow of militants pouring into Iraq and now they are coming back the other way. They are also using Syria's favorite assassination tool in Lebanon, the car bomb.

[mahnistanah]

01:30 PM on 05/10/2012

When both sides are supported by IslamoFacists , who neither love freedom nor equality, who enslave their own at every opportunity with Iron Age mysticism and ignorance, and threaten all things which might give them true liberty and justice, who in the world do you root for ? WHO DO YOU ROOT FOR ? If the ones without the guns and tanks presently are MORE DANGEROUS than those who are currently weilding them, WHO DO YOU ROOT FOR ? I'll tell you who, you root for neither, but you assist Israel in it's continued struggle to survive and thrive, living among those who would have had you dropping A bombs like tic-tacs were they to be right over your northern, southern, and eastern boarders, all the while living among you, attacking at any chance they've gotten. Choose democracy. Choose to support the nation which has men and women Arabs in every elected position in it's government up to and including it's supreme court. Choose sanity. Choose life.

[Taxim]

07:21 AM on 05/10/2012

The United States military said yesterday that 12,000 soldiers from 17 countries would be taking part in this month’s military exercises in Jordan, designed to enhance their ability to meet “security challenges.”

Special action troops, naval and air force units from countries including Turkey, France and Saudi Arabia will carry out the joint training operations, according to the Voice of Russia. “The tactical execution of the Eager Lion 2012 exercises will officially start on May 15,” Major Robert Bockholt, public affairs officer at Special Operations Command Central, told Agence France-Presse.

[uk progressive]

07:02 AM on 05/10/2012

Did the US learn anything from arming:
Saddam = no.
Mujahadeen(Taliban) and afghan arabs(al Qaeda) = no.
Libyan rebels = no.

We've all seen this movie before and we all know how it will end.

[BG-back]

07:06 AM on 05/10/2012

Strategic depth ;)

[mahnistanah]

01:28 PM on 05/10/2012

Most likely with Bashir Assad in a drainage ditch / meat locker / spider hole, if history is to be used as example.

[escholar]

06:52 AM on 05/10/2012

Syria & Humanitarian Terror -
It is not immediately clear who is behind the latest bomb blast in Damascus, Syria, but what is clear is that there is an international determined and well funded project for regime change in Syria, by any means necessary.

- http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=30779

- http://www.infowars.com/syria-another-humanitarian-war-based-on-lies-deceit/

[mahnistanah]

01:32 PM on 05/10/2012

you mean the Saudis?

[escholar]

07:02 PM on 05/10/2012

The Saudis, Qataris and the West.

[ukan]

06:50 AM on 05/10/2012

So it proves the WEST was wrong...If they wouldn't have supported this civil war Syria/World would not have suffered this casualities...

[mahnistanah]

01:33 PM on 05/10/2012

Didn't Assad the senior slaughter 10 thousands of his own people in Homs?

[psandysdad]

06:48 AM on 05/10/2012

My goodness but these folks are good at asymetrical warfare. I hope WE never 'p' them off.

Oh wait......

[BG-back]

06:36 AM on 05/10/2012

The Western intervention via their handy puppets in GCC has actually thwarted the genuine uprising against the lousy @ssad regime by funding and arming their favorite reactionaries (As in L|by@)

Many are now abandoning what has become a western backed civil war.

""We bicker while the Brotherhood works," said Fawaz al-Tello, a veteran opposition figure who is a pious Muslim while being on the liberal end of the Syrian political spectrum. "They have gained control of the SNC's aid division and the military bureau, its only important components," said Tello, a former political prisoner who fled Syria four months ago. "But they still have to work more do to get support on the inside. Lots of clerics, activists and rebels do not want to be linked to them." Tello, however, acknowledged that the Brotherhood has clawed back influence inside Syria, especially in the cities of Homs and Hama and the rural province of Idlib on the border with Turkey, hotbeds of the revolt against Assad."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/06/us-syria-brotherhood-idUSBRE84504R20120506

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

06:35 AM on 05/10/2012

I have some wonderful suggestions. How about we get all US forces out of the ME, out of Europe,and out of Central Asia? How about we pull all Naval vessels out of the Med. and the Indian Ocean and bring them back to guard our shores, in the Pacific and Atlantic?

How about we stop trying to impose the Pax Americana on the world, turn back from the path of empire and mind our own business? How about we cut our so-called "defense" budget in half, rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, and retire our debt?

[Paganus]

06:47 AM on 05/10/2012

I agree that we can afford to pare down our military spending a good bit, but simply withdrawing from the world will not make it go away. If we completely withdraw our troops and navy, then Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Europe, and everyone else would have to pay for their own military budget...and they would. With no US Pacific fleet between China and Australia, Japan and Taiwan, the old regional military rivalries would rapidly re-assert themselves and we would be dragged into a regional war in any event.

We tried isolationism once before, in the 20's and 30's. It didn't end so well.

[uk progressive]

07:19 AM on 05/10/2012

If you think that all of the US military bases spread over the four corners of the earth is for the benefit and security of the world you are seriously kidding yourself. These bases benefit only one power and that's the American empire, US hegemony is the root cause of many wars, conflicts and tensions throughout the world. Nobody gave the US the right to "police" the world.

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

10:17 PM on 05/10/2012

I'm not suggesting "isolationism", I'm saying that we have no good reason to keep troops on the ground in 8000 bases in 130+ countries around the world. We have no need to be an occupying power in Germany, Italy, and Japan SIXTY-SEVEN YEARS after the end of WW2. Enough already!

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961

http://www.h-net.org/~hst306/documents/indust.html

[uk progressive]

07:08 AM on 05/10/2012

Not only would Americans benefit from all of what you've said, but so would the rest of the world. The American empire is the greatest threat to world peace.

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

10:12 PM on 05/10/2012

We have 11 aircraft carrier battle groups, the whole rest of the world together has 10. We spend more on "defense" than all the other countries in the world put together. We are the world's largest arms dealers, we start wars and then sell weapons to both sides. We are the world's largest exporter of state-sponsored terrorism.

"Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever." Thomas Jefferson

[Celebrindan]

06:34 AM on 05/10/2012

Death, the House of al-Assad, the King of Murder.

He has painted his line red with blood, for all eternity.

[Julie Zhou]

06:46 AM on 05/10/2012

Did he set off these bombs?

[Celebrindan]

07:58 AM on 05/10/2012

He orders the traverse and elevation mechanisms of his artillery set to civilian neighborhoods, and rained shells down on children in their beds.

He orders his tanks to render to into dust the homes of elderly and infirm.

His toll among his people is known only to those who pulled the lanyards and those who fell, among the bricks stones and rubble,

Children huddled with their mothers and grandmothers, fathers and sons, brothers and nephews,watched in horror at the last breath of the other, while al-Assad's military laid waste to Homs.

Murder.

[heartisferee]

06:23 AM on 05/10/2012

The ancient Jewish prophets wrote 2500 years ago that God would destroy those Middle East nations that try and eliminate Israel from the face of the earth - that is found in Ezekiel 38 and 39 where both Iran and Pakistan are mentioned in Ezekiel 38:5 as Persia. God told Abraham 4000 years ago in Genesis 12:1-3 that those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed - that principle is still applicable today. Since the United States is not found in Bible prophecy, one can conclude that America will not be a major factor before the return of Jesus Christ to the earth.

[Taxim]

07:06 AM on 05/10/2012

So it's true; christ likes blood. That does explain much of history.

[BG-back]

07:33 AM on 05/10/2012

Uh oh.... Z|0n|$ts and Western power circles took that text too seriously while creating |$rae| (not so long ago) i think.

Guess you didn't get the memo that Evangelicals, such as John Hagee, known anti-semites, loudly support the colonial cause not out of love for the Jewish people.... What was that bit about Jesus returning and converting the Jews?

Oh and lastly... that's really cute religious fanaticism.

[Mike Smither]

05:59 AM on 05/10/2012

lots more killing a coming.this is so medival.a king crushing opposition.what year is
this.

[BG-back]

06:32 AM on 05/10/2012

This was an attack by the rebels on the $Yrian state machinery... The same rebels backed by the W3st...

Did you read the article?

[Julie Zhou]

06:48 AM on 05/10/2012

Since you are not among the dead, just keep killing each other in the name of a cause.

[Alex Christie]

05:48 AM on 05/10/2012

Without religion none of this would be happening.

[DLB]

06:13 AM on 05/10/2012

Really?

Stalin is credited with killing 20,000,000 of his own people.

Mao is credited with killing 50,000,000 of his own people.

Not a lick of religion between the two of them.

[cyanmanta]

06:14 AM on 05/10/2012

Even as an atheist, I can't agree with that. Religion is only one excuse used by powerful people to lay waste; it's a big one, but I think the desire to solidify power and exert authority over others is bigger. Organized religion does tend to make that job easier, though...

[heyoka]

05:43 AM on 05/10/2012

Nation states, including the United States, are hamstrung in dealing with the crisis in Syria because of their relations with other nation states, and the protocols that they have established for trying to deal with such matters.

Al Quaeda has no such restraints on it, and it is natural that the desperate people of Syria would turn to Al Quaeda for help.

Things aren't getting any better or easier while the nation states play their diplomatic games.

[Celebrindan]

06:19 AM on 05/10/2012

Wrong.

The only limiting factors here are the WMD that al-Assad has in it's possession.

Libya made the mistake of giving up their little stockpile, and where's that tinpot?

[Taxim]

07:23 AM on 05/10/2012

It is no secret that al-Maliki’s is the only government in the region other than Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s in Iran that still supports Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, and it is no secret that they form an axis of non-Sunni governments in the region. It could be said that Turkey is toughening its stance regarding the two governments of its southern neighbors, Iraq and Syria, which are currently in line with Iran, as the talks on Iran’s nuclear program, planned for Baghdad on May 23, get closer.

To complete the picture, the massive military exercise about to be hosted by Jordan together with the U.S. near Jordan’s borders with Syria and Iraq must be mentioned. It is reportedly based on a scenario of regional challenges and its name is “Eager Lion”; no connection is mentioned but “assad” means “lion” in Arabic.

[heyoka]

10:40 AM on 05/10/2012

Yes, what you've stated is consistent with, and adds to my understanding of politics in the area.

You did not, however, tell me whether you agree with my assessment as far as it goes.