Counter-terrorist agencies in Syria on Sunday hunted for those behind a car bomb attack that killed 17 people in Damascus. Saturday's bombing near a Shiite shrine in the Syrian capital, which also wounded 14 people, drew worldwide condemnation, including from the United States.
The blast and other recent attacks were planned abroad, Syrian official newspaper Ath Thawra said on Sunday, while a columnist for a leading Jordanian daily Al-Dustur blamed the bombing on Israel's spy agency Mossad.
"It's a US-backed Israeli conspiracy to destabilise the Syrian regime and create enough chaos to produce an opposition that would develop and grow under the sponsorship of Israel and the United States," Hashem al-Khaledi said in an editorial for Al-Dustur in Amman. "They seek to topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who is seen by the United States and Israel as an obstacle facing their schemes in the region."
Without making specific allegations, Ath Thawra said the perpetrators of recent acts of "terrorism" crossed the border to carry them out. "Syrian security is solid but the region is throbbing with terrorists," it said. "We need to protect our frontiers to prevent infiltration by terrorists, explosions and acts of sabotage."
Al-Watan, which is close to the government, said: "The list is long of those who refused to let Syria live in security and peace. It begins with Israel, passes via the information services and militias deployed in (neighbouring) countries and ends with Islamist groups which interpret religion badly."
Lebanon's Shiite Hizbullah on Sunday added its voice to those condemning the attack. "Hizbullah strongly condemns the bombing... and expresses its full sympathies with its brothers in the Syrian leadership, government and people in face of the atrocious attack that only serves the enemy of the 'ummah' (nation) in creating chaos and instability in the region," it said in a statement.
