Attack On U.S. Embassy In Syria Foiled
Breaking News:DAMASCUS, Syria, Sept. 12, 2006

CBS/AP) Armed Islamic militants attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy in a bold 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 and no Americans were hurt.

The attackers apparently did not breach the high walls surrounding the white embassy compound in a diplomatic neighborhood of Damascus. But one of Syria's anti-terrorism forces was killed in the attack and at least 11 others were injured including a local embassy police officer, two Iraqis and seven workers at a nearby technical workshop, Syria's official news agency reported.

Chinese officials say one of their diplomats was slightly injured by a stray bullet as he watched from the rooftop of his own embassy, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth

It would appear that the terrorists may have encountered some technical difficulties.

There were conflicting reports of what happened.

Syrian TV said one car was rigged with explosives but never was detonated by the attackers. But one witness said a second car did explode, and TV footage from the scene showed a burned car.

I am inclined to believe that unlike incidents of violence over and around the Danish Cartoons, this latest incident was not approved of or condoned by the Syrian regime.

"It is a very rich neighborhood where most of the European embassies are situated," reporter George Baghdadi told CBS Radio News.

Damascus has been hit by militant attacks in the past. In April 2004, four people were killed in a clash between Syrian police and a team of suspected bombers in the diplomatic quarter of Damascus.

The authorities at that time accused Islamic militants of trying blow up an explosives-laden car near the Canadian embassy.

Syria has in the past dealt with Islamic Militants operating outside the parameters allowed them, in an extremely decisive manner.

Hama Rules By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

In February 1982 the secular Syrian government of President Hafez al-Assad faced a mortal threat from Islamic extremists, who sought to topple the Assad regime. How did it respond? President Assad identified the rebellion as emanating from Syria's fourth-largest city ? Hama ? and he literally leveled it, pounding the fundamentalist neighborhoods with artillery for days. Once the guns fell silent, he plowed up the rubble and bulldozed it flat, into vast parking lots. Amnesty International estimated that 10,000 to 25,000 Syrians, mostly civilians, were killed in the merciless crackdown. Syria has not had a Muslim extremist problem since

Recently Syria has found some cadres of Jihadist extremists useful.

It does have the hallmark of an al Qaeda-type of attack, if we look at the fact that it seemed to be a vehicle, a bomb, with people inside, showing that it would be a suicide attack," Sajjan Gohel, terrorism analyst at the Asia-Pacific Foundation in London, told CBS Radio News.


(CBS)
But it might also be another group, Gohel said.

"We know that the Syrian regime has allowed insurgents to cross back and forth to attack coalition troops. It also has harbored a lot of Hezbollah members in the past. We can't rule out the possibility that Hezbollah has played a role in this," Gohel said.

We will have to wait and see how this latest incident plays out. Attacks on the US or the Canadian Embassy are one thing but if the report above is true?

Chinese officials say one of their diplomats was slightly injured by a stray bullet as he watched from the rooftop of his own embassy, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth.

Stratfor.com
has an interesting theory that this may hallmark an attempt by Al Qaedar to make points against Hezbollah in the Region>

Syria: Embassy Attack Linked to Militants?

The U.S. embassy in Damascus is reported to have come under attack, with reports of heavy gunfire and loud explosions. Security forces have sealed off the Rawda area, which houses other embassies, security installations and senior officials' residences.

The attack was most likely carried out by an al Qaeda-linked cell in Lebanon. Al Qaeda has steadily increased its presence in the Levant in the past several months. Syrian security forces have engaged in shootouts with alleged jihadists in the capital city since the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al Hairi. Though these shootouts were largely political in nature, designed to facilitate a dialog between Washington and Damascus, jihadists have a real incentive to stage attacks in the Levant and target the regime that has offered cooperation to U.S. forces in Iraq against al Qaeda. In the wake of the Lebanon war, a strong need arose in al Qaeda to challenge it's Shiite rival, Hezbollah, for regional fame.

I do not think the People's Republic of China is going to be pleased.
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