Syria holds funeral services for victims of Damascus bombing

Regime promises ‘iron fist’ response to security threats

The funerals were held in the mosque where Friday’s attack took place

DAMASCUS // The Syrian regime held funerals yesterday for 26 people killed in a Damascus suicide bombing that it called a “terrorist attack”, promising an “iron fist” response to the second such incident in two weeks.

The opposition has pointed the finger at the regime itself, as it did after similar attacks in the capital on December 23, in which 44 people died.

The funerals were held in the Al Hassan mosque in the working- class Midan neighbourhood where Friday’s attack took place.

As thousands of regime supporters gathered outside, many waving flags, Damascus mufti Bashir Eid preached a funeral sermon in the presence of several ministers, officials and ordinary people.

“With our souls and our blood we will sacrifice ourselves for you,” the crowd outside chanted to the president, Bashar Al Assad.

The ruling party’s Al-baath daily devoted half of its issue yesterday to the attack, in which 63 people were also wounded, including two pages of colour photos of the carnage.

The headline leading three pages of coverage said Syrians were calling for the perpetrators to be “struck with an iron fist”.

On Friday, the interior ministry said “we will strike with an iron fist all those who undermine the security of the nation”.

Another headline said “we are not afraid of oil money”, an allusion to alleged involvement in the 10-month-old pro-democracy uprising by Gulf Arab oil states.

And the official Ath-thawra daily said “terrorism is uprooted, not cured, and its eradication is inevitable”. It pointed the finger at Islamists, saying they “committed many crimes in the past and they are doing it again today as a sign of defiance”. That was a reference to bloody attacks during a rebel- lion by the Muslim Brotherhood between 1978 and 1986 which was brutally crushed by Mr Assad’s late father and predecessor, Hafez. But the Brotherhood, which has since renounced violence, said on Friday that “we hold the regime, its agents and its gangs, fully responsible for this crime”. It had also accused the government of orchestrating the December 23 attacks that the regime blamed on Al Qaeda, and it called for an international probe, claiming that the attack benefited the regime. The Syrian National Council, which includes the Brotherhood, said Friday’s bombing “clearly bears the regime’s fingerprints”. The US condemned the attack, calling for Mr Assad to step down, while the UN chief, Ban Ki-moon, said “all violence is unacceptable and must stop immediately”. Assad ally Iran condemned the “terrorist attack”. The foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said: “Without doubt, the unity and vigilance of the Syrian government and people are disappointing the enemies of Syria who think only of internal war, breaking up the country and making it submit to the demands of the axis of America and Zionism.” The SNC said the UN Security Council had to take up the matter of the bloodshed, which the world body estimated in December had killed more than 5,000 people since pro- democracy protests erupted last March.

It said “a joint effort between the Arab League and the United Nations Security Council represents a first step toward the urgent and necessary measures to assure the protection of civilians, and to ensure that the regime does not commit additional bombings and killings”.

Activists have called for an Arab League observer mission that has been in the country since December 26 to admit its failure to stem the bloodshed and hand the task over to the United Nations. UN leader Mr Ban reaffirmed an offer to train the Arab League observers.

The mission has been trying to assess whether the government is complying with a peace deal aimed at ending its deadly crackdown.

But there has been no let- up in the violence amid new criticism of the observers.

Yesterday, four civilians were shot dead by security forces in the city of Homs, the Britain- based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It added that another three people who had been wounded in Harasta, near Damascus, also died.

Seventeen civilians were reported killed on Friday.