Al Qaeda Watch: Terrorist Attack at United States Embassy in Damascus, Syria
Syrian security forces and firefighters are seen in front of the US embassy in Damascus on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2006. Syrian security forces killed three attackers, the government said, after gunmen apparently blew up a car outside the U.S. Embassy and exchanged fire with Syrian guards on Tuesday in a bold attack on Damascus’ diplomatic neighborhood.
AP: 3 killed outside U.S. embassy in Syria
Islamic militants attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy in a brazen attack Tuesday using automatic rifles, hand grenades and at least one van rigged with explosives, the government said. Syrian security forces killed three of the attackers.
The assailants apparently did not breach the high walls surrounding the white embassy compound in a diplomatic neighborhood of Damascus. But a Chinese diplomat was slightly injured by a stray bullet during the attack, China’s government news agency said.
A witness said one Syrian guard outside the embassy also was killed, but the government did not immediately confirm that. At the embassy in Damascus, as at most American embassies worldwide, a local guard force patrols outside the compound’s walls while U.S. Marine guards are mostly responsible for guarding classified documents and fighting off attackers inside the compound.
Witnesses also said the gunmen tried to throw hand grenades into the embassy compound, shouting “Allah Akbar!” or “God is great!” It was not clear if any of the grenades made it over the walls, which are about 8 feet high.
If Syrian cannot maintain security against Al Qaeda or Al Qaeda type cells in Damascus then the United States should pull their diplomats home and kick the Syrian ambassador’s ASS out of the United States.
End of story.
Allah Akbar! while throwing grenades over an embassy’s security wall indeed.
Stay tuned….
Update:
AP: Gunmen Try to Take U.S. Embassy in Syria
Michelle will have updates throughout the day.
Related:
Al Qaeda threatens more terror attacks
“We have repeatedly warned you and offered a truce with you. Now we have all the legal and rational justification to continue to fight you until your power is destroyed or you give in and surrender,” al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri said in one of three videos the group released yesterday.
“The days are pregnant and giving birth to new events,” he said and warned that Persian Gulf countries and Israel would be al Qaeda’s next targets. He accused the governments of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia of supporting Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
