From Akram: "The day refused to expire without leaving its bloody marks on the exhausted body of Damascus which experiences a real terrorism madness. 24 hours after a car bomb detonated in Mezza 86, an informal neighborhood in Mezza district inhabited mostly by poor Alawites, killing 11 with dozens injured, al-Wourood quarter of the north-eastern Damascene suburb of Qodssayia was the victim of another terrorist attack that happened on Tuesday afternoon. Initial reports indicated three explosions caused by one car bomb and two explosive devices that were implanted in the place. The explosions led to dozens of casualties: while the state-run agency news, Sana, reported 11 victims and tens injured, the loyal Qodssayia News Network (Arabic) said 30 were killed and more than 50 injured. Local TV stations broadcasted live scenes showing considerable damage in the place while emergency teams and civilians were trying to extinguish the fire caused by the explosions and evacuating the victims.
The explosions occurred in the heart of a crowded market near the neighborhood’s main bus station. Like Mezza 86, al-Wourood is a slum inhabited mainly by low-income Alawites who work in the army, security forces and other government agencies in what can be considered the direct result of the poor development the Syrian coastal countryside suffers from historically.
Few months ago, Qodssayia was a scene of high tensions and intensified clashes between FSA groups who infiltrated the suburb and the Syrian regime forces backed by popular committees from al-Wourood before the armed groups were forced to withdraw.
On the social media networks, reactions on this attack varied between the loyal networks mourning the victims and the opposite ones (Arabic) celebrating the attack using ugly sectarian expressions, while, on its news band, France 24 Arabic, reporting the attack, put the term terrorist between double-quotations:
Victims and casualties in a “terrorist” attack in a Damascene suburb !!!"
