Syria Support Movement solidarity with the Syrian people
Dozens dead in Syria car bombs, shelling: state media
Al Akhbar, Apr 30, 2014
Car bombs and mortar attacks killed at least 50 people in Syrian government-held areas of Damascus and the central city of Homs on Tuesday, state media reported, as a global watchdog announced it would investigate claims of chemical weapons use.
Government forces have pushed back the rebels seeking to topple Assad from many of their strongholds around Damascus, but the insurgents have stepped up rocket and mortar attacks against the heart of the capital in recent weeks.
The Syrian army is also in control of most of Homs.
In Homs, at least 36 people including children were killed by twin car bombs near a busy roundabout in the neighborhood of Zahraa, according to a local security source cited by state news agency SANA.
In central Damascus, two mortar shells struck an education complex in the district of Shaghour, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens.
The state news agency SANA described the Badr al-Din Husseini complex as a religious jurisprudence college, but residents said there were also primary and secondary school students there.
At least 54 killed in Syria as attacks hit pro-government areas in Damascus and Homs
Apr 29, 2014, Associated Press
A massive double car bombing and a mortar strike targeted pro-government neighborhoods Tuesday in two of Syria’s largest cities, killing at least 54 people a day after President Bashar Assad declared his candidacy for re-election.
The attacks in Damascus and Homs heightened fears of an escalation ahead of the contentious June 3 vote and showed that despite a series of battlefield setbacks, the rebels remain capable of hitting the government and its core of support.
…Tuesday’s double car bombing struck near the pro-government Zahra and Abbasiyeh neighborhoods — an area predominantly inhabited by Christians and members of Assad’s Alawite sect. At least 40 people were killed and another 116 wounded, the official SANA news agency said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also put the death toll at 40 and said more than 80 were wounded.
The explosions struck 10 minutes apart and 150 yards (meters) from each other on a busy residential and commercial thoroughfare.
“When I arrived at the scene, fire and smoke and medics were still carrying away the wounded,” said one resident, who declined to give his name for fear of reprisals. He said homes and shops were heavily damaged in the blast, which also set several cars on fire.
Homs governor Tala Barazi said such crimes “target security, stability and ongoing national reconciliation in the province.”
In Damascus, several mortar shells slammed into a school in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Shaghour, killing 14 people and wounding 86, the state news agency reported. The Observatory said 19 people were killed, including 14 children.
It was one of the deadliest mortar attacks on central Damascus since the conflict began in March 2011.
In footage of the aftermath broadcast on Syria’s pro-government Al-Ikhbariya TV, blood and glass littered the floor. Shoes were scattered about, along with a cap, a religious book and other belongings. One body was laid out on the ground and covered with a blanket. Two bloodied feet protruded from under the cloth.
Terrorist attacks leave trail of death, amounting to 58 civilians
SANA, Apr 29, 2014
A trail of death was left in the wake of terrorist mortar and car bomb attacks that hit Damascus and Homs on Tuesday, causing a death toll of 58, in addition to scores of wounded.
A car bomb blast rocked the city of Homs, claiming the lives of 40 civilians, mostly women and children, according to a source in the province.
The source told SANA reporter that the bombing, which took place near the heavily-trafficked al-Abassiyeh intersection, injured 116 others.
Homs Governor, Tala al-Barazi, stressed in a statement to SANA that criminal and terrorist acts target the state of security, stabilty and national reconciliation witnessed in the province, adding that such acts will only increase the syrians’ steadfastness to deter terrorism.
Terrorists’ mortars claim 14 civilians, mostly students, in Damascus:
Terrorists’ mortars continued to rain down on Damascus as four rounds hit al-Shaghour neighborhood, two of which smashed into Badr-Eddin al-Hasani Institute for Islamic Sharia Sciences, killing 14 civilians, a Police Command source told SANA.
86 others, mostly students, were reported wounded in the attack.
The other two rounds landed in the surrounding of the Institute, hurting no one.
The source added that terrorists targeted al-Abassiyeen area with 9 mortar shells which landed in the surrounding of al-Abassiyeen Stadium, injuring 8 other civilians.
Hospital Director Adib Mahmoud said bodies of 14 people were admitted to the hospital, in addition to 80 injured.
He noted that 9 of the wounded people are undergoing surgeries.
In mid-April, similar mortar attacks targeted al-Manar basic education school in Bab Touma quarter and a school compound near St. Elias Church in al-Dweil’eh area, leaving a child dead and 60 others injured.
Mortar attack claims 4 lives, including 3 children:
Four other civilians, including 3 children, were killed in a mortar attack against a makeshift residential center for displaced people at a school in Adra al-Balad in Damascus Countryside.
The children’s ages ranged from 4 to 14 years, according to a Police Command source.
19 other civilians got wounded in the attack, which caused material damage to the shelter that hosts many families who have fled their homes due to the acts of the armed terrorist groups.
*Bashar al-Jaafari at the UN, speaking of the atrocities in Homs and Damascus Apr 29, holds a photo of 13 children killed by mercenaries’ mortars on Damascus areas.
