Terrorists Hit After Top U.S. General Visits Syria
DAMASCUS (Dispatches) -- A terrorist assault on two security service bases in Syria's third city of Homs killed dozens of people, including a top intelligence chief, on Saturday, overshadowing peace talks in Geneva.
Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front claimed the spectacular attack which targeted and killed General Hassan Daabul, a close confidant of President Bashar al-Assad.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 42 people were killed when the bombers targeted the headquarters of state security and military intelligence in the heavily guarded Ghouta and Mahatta neighborhoods.
Provincial governor Talal Barazi said 30 people were killed and 24 wounded.
State television confirmed Daabul's death, saying that the general had been specifically targeted by one of the suicide bombers.
The bombers engaged in prolonged gun battles with intelligence officers before blowing themselves up.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said they lasted two hours. Fateh al-Sham said five of its militants took part in the assault. State television and the Observatory spoke of six bombers.
Syrian government negotiator Bashar al-Ja'afari said an attack by gunmen and terrorist bombers on Syrian security offices that killed dozens in Homs on Saturday was a message aimed at the Geneva peace talks and would not be ignored.
"The terrorist explosions that hit Homs city are a message to Geneva from sponsors of terrorism, and we tell everyone that the message is received and this crime won't pass unnoticed," he told reporters before meeting UN envoy Staffan de Mistura.
Homs has been under the full control of the government since May 2014 when terrorists withdrew from the center under a UN-brokered truce deal.
But it has seen repeated bombings since then. Twin attacks killed 64 people early last year.
Like its Takfiri rival, the Daesh group, Fateh al-Sham is not party to a ceasefire between government forces and militant groups taking part in the Geneva talks.
Despite renouncing links with Al-Qaeda last year, it remains blacklisted as a "terrorist" group by the United Nations and Western governments.
The group overran almost all of the northwestern province of Idlib in 2015 in alliance with Takfiri terrorists.
But relations have since frayed as its allies have joined peace negotiations with the government, first in Kazakhstan earlier this year and then in Geneva.
Fateh al-Sham has meanwhile been targeted by intensifying airstrikes, not just by the government but also by its ally Russia. Scores of its terrorists have been killed since the start of the year.
The tensions have triggered deadly clashes between the Takfiris and their erstwhile allies in Ahrar al-Sham - the largest terrorist faction.
Saturday's attack comes as the UN is struggling to get the new round of peace talks in Geneva off the ground aimed at ending the six-year war which has killed more than 310,000 people.
De Mistura said that despite government and militant delegations being present for the talks there had been little discussion of substance between the rival parties.
"We discussed issues relating to the format of the talks exclusively," said Syrian government delegation chief Bashar al-Jaafari after meeting de Mistura on Friday.
The Homs attack came after Daesh claimed a Friday bombing that killed nearly 70 people outside the northern town of Al-Bab, which Turkish-backed militants said this week they had taken from rivals.
The Observatory said that a car bomb targeted twin command posts at a militant base in Susian, about eight kilometers (five miles) from Al-Bab, which was one of Daesh’s last remaining strongholds in Aleppo province.
Separately, two Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack in Al-Bab on Friday as they were carrying out road checks.
The attacks came as the top U.S. military commander for the Middle East made a secret trip to northern Syria on Friday to meet a U.S.-backed militant group, the alliance's spokesman said.
General Joseph Votel, who heads U.S. Central Command (Centcom), met with leaders from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces in the first such trip under the new U.S. administration.
In an online statement, SDF spokesman Talal Sello said Votel "visited areas under our control today (Friday) and met with several SDF commanders."
"The results were positive. We discussed the developments in the Euphrates Rage campaign and shared military matters."
He described the meeting as "confirmation of U.S. support for our forces". An SDF source told AFP the visit lasted four hours.
Votel made a similar trip to Syria in May 2016, meeting with SDF commanders as well as U.S. military advisers working alongside them.
Founded in October 2015, the SDF alliance is dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). U.S. ally and NATO member Turkey has been wary of the SDF's growing influence in northern Syria.
In August 2016, Ankara started a ground military intervention is Syria to quell SDF advances. The U.S. has special operations forces advising the SDF on the ground in Syria.
On Wednesday, Votel told journalists travelling with him in the Middle East that more U.S. troops might be needed in Syria, although he stressed local forces would be the primary force.
"I am very concerned about maintaining momentum," Votel said, in comments reported by the New York Times and other outlets. "It could be that we take on a larger burden ourselves."
Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front claimed the spectacular attack which targeted and killed General Hassan Daabul, a close confidant of President Bashar al-Assad.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 42 people were killed when the bombers targeted the headquarters of state security and military intelligence in the heavily guarded Ghouta and Mahatta neighborhoods.
Provincial governor Talal Barazi said 30 people were killed and 24 wounded.
State television confirmed Daabul's death, saying that the general had been specifically targeted by one of the suicide bombers.
The bombers engaged in prolonged gun battles with intelligence officers before blowing themselves up.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said they lasted two hours. Fateh al-Sham said five of its militants took part in the assault. State television and the Observatory spoke of six bombers.
Syrian government negotiator Bashar al-Ja'afari said an attack by gunmen and terrorist bombers on Syrian security offices that killed dozens in Homs on Saturday was a message aimed at the Geneva peace talks and would not be ignored.
"The terrorist explosions that hit Homs city are a message to Geneva from sponsors of terrorism, and we tell everyone that the message is received and this crime won't pass unnoticed," he told reporters before meeting UN envoy Staffan de Mistura.
Homs has been under the full control of the government since May 2014 when terrorists withdrew from the center under a UN-brokered truce deal.
But it has seen repeated bombings since then. Twin attacks killed 64 people early last year.
Like its Takfiri rival, the Daesh group, Fateh al-Sham is not party to a ceasefire between government forces and militant groups taking part in the Geneva talks.
Despite renouncing links with Al-Qaeda last year, it remains blacklisted as a "terrorist" group by the United Nations and Western governments.
The group overran almost all of the northwestern province of Idlib in 2015 in alliance with Takfiri terrorists.
But relations have since frayed as its allies have joined peace negotiations with the government, first in Kazakhstan earlier this year and then in Geneva.
Fateh al-Sham has meanwhile been targeted by intensifying airstrikes, not just by the government but also by its ally Russia. Scores of its terrorists have been killed since the start of the year.
The tensions have triggered deadly clashes between the Takfiris and their erstwhile allies in Ahrar al-Sham - the largest terrorist faction.
Saturday's attack comes as the UN is struggling to get the new round of peace talks in Geneva off the ground aimed at ending the six-year war which has killed more than 310,000 people.
De Mistura said that despite government and militant delegations being present for the talks there had been little discussion of substance between the rival parties.
"We discussed issues relating to the format of the talks exclusively," said Syrian government delegation chief Bashar al-Jaafari after meeting de Mistura on Friday.
The Homs attack came after Daesh claimed a Friday bombing that killed nearly 70 people outside the northern town of Al-Bab, which Turkish-backed militants said this week they had taken from rivals.
The Observatory said that a car bomb targeted twin command posts at a militant base in Susian, about eight kilometers (five miles) from Al-Bab, which was one of Daesh’s last remaining strongholds in Aleppo province.
Separately, two Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack in Al-Bab on Friday as they were carrying out road checks.
The attacks came as the top U.S. military commander for the Middle East made a secret trip to northern Syria on Friday to meet a U.S.-backed militant group, the alliance's spokesman said.
General Joseph Votel, who heads U.S. Central Command (Centcom), met with leaders from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces in the first such trip under the new U.S. administration.
In an online statement, SDF spokesman Talal Sello said Votel "visited areas under our control today (Friday) and met with several SDF commanders."
"The results were positive. We discussed the developments in the Euphrates Rage campaign and shared military matters."
He described the meeting as "confirmation of U.S. support for our forces". An SDF source told AFP the visit lasted four hours.
Votel made a similar trip to Syria in May 2016, meeting with SDF commanders as well as U.S. military advisers working alongside them.
Founded in October 2015, the SDF alliance is dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). U.S. ally and NATO member Turkey has been wary of the SDF's growing influence in northern Syria.
In August 2016, Ankara started a ground military intervention is Syria to quell SDF advances. The U.S. has special operations forces advising the SDF on the ground in Syria.
On Wednesday, Votel told journalists travelling with him in the Middle East that more U.S. troops might be needed in Syria, although he stressed local forces would be the primary force.
"I am very concerned about maintaining momentum," Votel said, in comments reported by the New York Times and other outlets. "It could be that we take on a larger burden ourselves."