10 May 2012 Damascus bombings
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The 10 May 2012 Damascus bombings were carried out using a pair of car bombs allegedly detonated by suicide bombers outside a
military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
complex in
Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...
, Syria. Combined, the perpetrators detonated more than of explosives, tearing the facade off a 10-story building. With 55 people confirmed dead and almost 400 others injured, the attack was the deadliest bombing to date in the Syrian Civil War, though later outpaced by other events.


Bombing

The initial car bomb was detonated on a six-lane highway in the neighbourhood of Qazzaz adjacent to a military intelligence compound during the morning rush hour. The detonation destroyed the compound's security wall. As a crowd gathered around the site of the blast, a second, larger explosion quickly followed.


Responsibility

The Syrian Interior Ministry said "foreign-backed terrorists" were responsible for the incident. Opposition groups accused the
Syrian government Government of the Syrian Arab Republic is the union government created by the constitution of Syria where by the president is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Syr ...
of staging the bombings to discredit the resistance to
Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...
's government. These claims were received with skepticism by some journalists and Middle East analysts who deemed it unlikely that the government would attack their own
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...
headquarters. Bill Roggio, an analyst on terror and military issues, stated the attacks were "very likely" carried out by the
al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
-linked opposition group
Al-Nusra Front to Protect the Levant Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...
. This possibility was also visited upon by counter-terrorism expert Ghaffar Hussain who researched possible al-Qaeda involvement in the overall Syrian uprising. Indeed, a man purporting to represent the Al-Nusra Front claimed responsibility for the attacks in a video released the following day. However, four days later, someone claiming to be a spokesman for the group denied that the organization was responsible for the attack, saying the video that was previously provided is a fake, and that any information regarding their operations would be announced through jihadi forums. On 18 May, UN secretary general
Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...
stated that he believed al-Qaeda was behind the attack by saying: "Very alarmingly and surprisingly, a few days ago, there was a huge serious massive terrorist attack. I believe that there must be Al-Qaeda behind it. This has created again very serious problems". The Guardian interviewed rebel defectors who worked at the Palestinian branch, where the bombing took place. The defectors also believed the government was responsible for the bombing. One of them is quoted as saying "Three days before the bomb the Alawite officers started disappearing and so too did all of the important prisoners ... The cameras were also taken down and the important files were removed. The only people left in the building when the explosion happened were Sunni officers and guards or some prisoners." On 30 September Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya news claimed to have proof that the government were behind the attacks. They cited "classified government documents that had been acquired through the
Syrian opposition The Syrian opposition ( ar, المعارضة السورية ', ) is the political structure represented by the Syrian National Coalition and associated Syrian anti-Assad groups with certain territorial control as an alternative Syrian gover ...
". The documents allegedly indicate the purpose of the attack was to discredit the opposition and convince the international community that terrorists were active in the country. According to the Al Arabiya, Maj. Gen.
Dhu al-Himma Shalish Dhu al-Himma Shalish ( ar, ذو الهمة شاليش; 1951 – May 14, 2022) was the first cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and head of presidential security. He was part of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle. Background Dhu al-Himma Sh ...
, head of presidential security, ordered Colonel Suhail Hassan of the Air Force Intelligence Directorate to carry out the bombing citing direct orders from the
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
. Al Arabiya has been determined to be an unreliable source with an agenda.


See also

*
List of bombings during the Syrian civil war This is a timeline of incidents in Syria that have been labelled as terrorism and are not believed to have been carried out by a government or its forces (see state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism). 2011 * 2011 Damascus bombings - On 2 ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2012 05 10 Damascus bombings Terrorist incidents in Damascus during the Syrian civil war Suicide car and truck bombings in Syria Terrorist incidents in Syria in 2012 May 2012 events in Syria Attacks on buildings and structures in Syria