They said the explosions struck the typical Staff Command Building (Hay'at al Arkan) in the Umayad Square in central Damascus, which is among the top military headquarters in the continent.
There was no immediate word on casualties but ambulances might be heard racing to the sealed-off location.
The Syrian information minister claimed the attack had caused "only material damage" and this security forces were chasing "armed terrorists" -- a term the authorities use to make reference to insurgents waging a violent uprising to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Gunfire along with other smaller blasts could be heard following the explosions, as well as the particular sound of ambulance sirens. Many roads in the centre of the capital were impeded, residents said.
The explosions have been heard around 7. 00 'm (0345 GMT), before regular working hours begin in Syria.
"The explosions were very loud. They shook the whole city as well as the windows of our house have been shuddering, " one resident arrived at by telephone said.
"Black smoke was seen rising from the area near the army workers building, " the resident, who declined to be named, said.
A Damascus bomb attack on July 18 killed several top security officials, which includes Assad's brother-in-law, the defence and interior ministers. That attack paved just how for a rebel advance in to the centre of the capital, although they've got since been pushed back to the outskirts.
MAJOR STRIKE?
Another kama'aina ( said: "I was woken up in four minutes to seven with the first loud explosion. Five or six minutes later there was clearly a second. "
"We're utilized to the sound of artillery but these were very big - bigger when compared with usual. I can hear gunfire even now, " he said, speaking an hour and a half after the blasts.
He said one of the blasts appeared to have been in your community of the General Staff Control.
He said he could see soldiers stationed on top of the nearby Air Power Intelligence building.
Syria's conflict, the moment a peaceful protest movement, has evolved right into a civil war that the U. N. special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, claimed was "extremely bad and getting worse. " He said the stalemate in the united states could soon "find an opening", with out elaborating.
Even Damascus has become a battleground between Assad's forces and opposition fighters.
Activists say greater than 27, 000 people have been killed in the 18-month-old uprising against Assad.
With no foreseeable prospect of foreign involvement and diplomacy stuck, outgunned rebels get relied increasingly on attacks using homemade bombs, striving to level the playing field against a state using fighter jets, artillery and tanks.
At the annual U. N. General Assembly in The big apple, French President Francois Hollande wanted to shake up international inertia in excess of Syria's crisis by calling for U. N. protection of rebel-held areas to help you end Syria's bloodshed and legal rights.
"The Syrian regime... has no future in our midst, " Hollande said in a speech. "Without any delay, I call upon the Us to provide immediately to the Syrian people all the support it asks of us and protect liberated zones. "
DEFENSE ZONES
Protection for "liberated" areas would require no-fly zones forced by foreign aircraft, which could possibly stop deadly air raids through Assad's forces on populated areas. But there is little chance of securing a Security Council requirement for such action given the particular continuing opposition of veto-wielding people Russia and China.
The Usa, European allies, Turkey and Gulf Arab states have sided while using the Syrian opposition while Iran, Italy and China have backed Assad, in whose family and minority Alawite sect get dominated the major Arab state for 42 years.
But Western powers have shied away from supplying military aid to the rebels to a extent that could turn the tide of the conflict, in part out of concern with arming Islamist militants who get joined the anti-Assad revolt.
In another speech to the General Assembly, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad rubbish bin Khalifa al-Thani said Arab countries should intervene in Syria provided the Security Council's failure to quit the civil war.
Qatar, which often backs the rebels, called on big powers to get ready a "Plan B" within weeks and create a no-fly zone to provide a safe haven inside Syria in case international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi fails to make headway.
The Qatari emir said he believed Arab and European countries would be ready to be involved, despite their public wariness of committing the forces meant for such a mission.
Addressing the typical Assembly, U. S. President Barack Obama arrested Iran of helping keep a dictatorship in power in Syria.
"Just the way it restricts the rights of its own people, the Iranian government props up a dictator in Damascus and supports terrorist groups abroad, " Obama said in a reference to Assad.
"We again declare that the particular regime of Bashar al-Assad ought to come to an end so your suffering of the Syrian men and women can stop, and a new dawn may start. "
The British-based charity Save the children released a harrowing report in relation to abuse of Syrian refugee children.
Khalid, 15, said he was hung by his arms from the ceiling of his own university building and beaten senseless. Wael claimed he saw a 6-year-old starved and beaten to death, "tortured greater than anyone else in the room. "
U. N. investigators point out Syrian government forces have dedicated human rights violations "on the alarming scale", but have also listed numerous killings and kidnappings by armed rebels attempting to oust Assad after 12 several years in power.
The children that Save the children spoke to in refugee camps in neighbouring countries said they had witnessed massacres and seen loved ones killed during the conflict.
Humanitarian conditions are worsening for the reason that violence drags on. The president of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, which has been the only relief group in the grass the entire 18 months connected with conflict, said it was in dire need of supplies.
"We ought to concentrate mostly on health and shelter because there are 1. 5 million displaced men and women, " Abdul Rahman Attar told Reuters within a visit to Oslo. "We have to have more of everything. "
You Might Also Like :
0 comments:
Post a Comment