On Sunday, November 20th, unknown insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at the offices of the ruling party Baath in the capital city Damascus. According to the latest information, the attack did not cause major damages and no one was wounded during the blast. However, this attack is a symbolic strike as until Sunday, the capital had been spared from the violence that has hit large parts of the country for eight months in a row. After having initially claimed responsibility for the attack, militant defectors members of the Free Syrian Army denied all involvement. Meanwhile, the violent crackdown of forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad on protesters continued during the weekend. Activists announced that at least 24 people have been killed on Sunday, November 20th across Syria. The security in the country is no longer guaranteed and more violence and crackdowns on civilians are likely in coming days and weeks.
Sunday’s attack in Damascus is the second attack to hit the capital since the beginning of the uprising. On November 17th a compound in the outskirts of Damascus was attacked. All the diplomatic efforts of the Arab League to stop the deadly violence in Syria foundered as the regime of Bashar al-Assad has failed to stop the violence on civilians. Assad announced that he will continue the military campaign in order to fight against dissidents. Meanwhile, several countries have decided to close their embassies in Syria over the past weeks as government supporters attacked the embassies of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey in Damascus as well as French and Turkish consular missions in Latakia and Aleppo on November 13th.
Due to the current situation, most of the western embassies warn their citizens against all travel to Syria and advise those already in the country to consider leaving as soon as possible by commercial means.
