Screenshot from YouTube video by user Free Syria (think IN pictures @1WORLDCmmunity)
MADAyuMadyan - Satu serangan bom pemberontak membunuh 31 pasukan tentera Syria di pangkalan tentera berhampiran Damsyik pada hari Ahad. 4 jeneral adalah antara yang ter-bunuh. Serangan itu datang di tengah-tengah serangan rejim utama terhadap kedudu-kan pemberontak di Damsyik dan Aleppo, AFP melaporkan .
“3 jeneral dan brigadier - am adalah antara 31 askar terbunuh dalam serangan bom yang menyebabkan sebuah bangunan di tempat pengangkutan tentera di Harasta runtuh,” Balai Cerap Syria bagi Hak Asasi Manusia pengarah Rami Abdul Rahman berkata.
Kumpulan pemberontak Direh al-Aasmeh (Perisai Damsyik ) brigade - yang merupakan sebahagian daripada yang disokong Barat Free Syrian Army - telah mengaku bertang-gungjawab terhadap serangan tersebut, menyiarkan video letupan itu di YouTube. Video menunjukkan bangunan tentera runtuh.
“Masa serangan adalah penting” kerana tentera kerajaan baru sahaja kembali beberapa kubu kuat pemberontak di kawasan itu, tambah Rahman.
Kuasa-kuasa kerajaan dilaporkan di tengah-tengah serangan di bandar qara, yang terletak di utara ibu kota berhampiran sempadan dengan Lubnan.” Pesawat perang menghujani bandar banyak semalam (Sabtu). Tentera rejim cuba untuk menyerang dan untuk memandu pemberontak keluar,” kata Rahman.
“Terdapat spekulasi bahawa pemberontak dapat menyusup pangkalan tentera, kerana bahan letupan itu mungkin diletakkan “sama ada di dalam atau di bawah bangunan dalam terowong,” katanya lagi.
Wartawan Ukraine Ankhar Kochneva mengesahkan serangan itu di blog beliau. Kochneva berada di Harasta apabila dia mendengar letupan dan merasakan bangunan itu yang ia berada bergoncang. Beliau menyifatkan letupan itu sebagai salah satu yang sangat besar, dengan banyak kematian dan kecederaan.
Konflik 2 tahun telah membunuh lebih daripada 100,000 orang dan dipindahkan lebih daripada satu juta pelarian. Ekonomi Syria telah kehilangan kira-kira US $ 100 bilion semasa perang - yang bersamaan dengan 2 tahun, menurut Syria Timbalan Perdana Menteri Qadri Jamil.
Moscow dan Washington mengatakan mereka komited untuk membawa kedua-dua belah konflik ke meja rundingan di persidangan keamanan Geneva 2. Satu set awal rundingan di Geneva berpecah tahun lalu selepas hanya satu hari.
4 Syrian generals among 31 dead in rebel bomb attack (VIDEO)
A rebel bomb attack killed 31 Syrian military troops on an army base near Damascus on Sunday. Four generals were among those killed. The attack came amid a major regime offensive against rebel positions around Damascus and Aleppo, AFP reported.
"Three generals and a brigadier-general were among 31 troops killed in a bomb attack that caused a building in the army transport base in Harasta to collapse,'' Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdul Rahman said.
The rebel group Direh al-Aasmeh (Shield of Damascus) brigade - which is part of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army - has claimed responsibility for the attack, posting a video of the blast on YouTube. The video shows the military building collapsing.
"The timing of the attack is significant” since government troops have only just regained several rebel strongholds in the area, Rahman added.
The government forces were reportedly in the midst of an offensive in the town of Qara, located north of the capital near the border with Lebanon. “Warplanes bombarded the town heavily yesterday (Saturday). Regime troops are trying to storm it and to drive the rebels out,” Rahman said.
"There is speculation that rebels could have infiltrated the military base, as the explosive device was probably placed "either inside or beneath the building in a tunnel,” he continued.
Ukrainian journalist Ankhar Kochneva confirmed the attack on her blog. Kochneva was in Harasta when she heard the blast and felt the building she was in shake. She described the blast as a very large one, with many dead and wounded.
The two-year conflict has already killed more than 100,000 people and displaced more than one million refugees. Syria’s economy has lost an estimated US$100 billion during the war - the equivalent of two years of normal production, according to Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil.
Moscow and Washington say they are committed to bringing both sides of the conflict to the negotiating table at the Geneva-2 peace conference. An earlier set of talks in Geneva broke up last year after just one day.