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SANA via EPA
Policemen inspecting the damage at a gas station after an explosion in the Barzeh area of Damascus on Thursday.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Photo released by the government-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
An explosion at a crowded gasoline station killed or wounded dozens of people in Syria's capital on Thursday, according to opposition activists.
The station in Damascus reportedly was packed with people lining up for fuel, which has become scarce during a 21-month-long insurgency aimed at overthrowing President Bashar Al-Assad.
The opposition Revolution Leadership Council in Damascus said the explosion was caused by a booby-trapped car, but there were conflicting figures on the death toll. Reuters put it at 11 killed, with at least 40 wounded. The Associated Press had the death toll at nine.
More than 60,000 people have been killed in the 22-month-old uprising and civil war, the United Nations said this week, sharply raising the death toll estimate in a conflict that shows no sign of ending.
The explosion occurred in the Barzeh al-Balad district, whose residents include members of the Sunni Muslim majority and other religious and ethnic minorities.
"The station is usually packed even when it has no fuel," said an opposition activist who did not want to be named. "There are lots of people who sleep there overnight, waiting for early morning fuel consignments."
It was the second time that a petrol station has been hit in Damascus this week. Dozens of people were incinerated in an air strike as they waited for fuel on Wednesday, according to opposition sources.
Amateur video posted online shows disturbing images, including charred bodies, but NBC News could not independently verify that the video was from Wednesday's attack.
NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin has more on one of the bloodiest weeks of the 22-month conflict.
Meanwhile, rebels battled on Thursday to seize an air base in northern Syria, part of a campaign to fight back against the air power that has given Assad's forces free rein to bomb rebel-held towns.
After dramatic advances over the second half of 2012, the rebels now hold wide swathes of territory in the north and east, but are limited in exerting control because they cannot protect towns and villages from Assad's helicopters and jets.
Hundreds of fighters from rebel groups were attempting to storm the Taftanaz air base, near the northern highway that links Syria's two main cities, Aleppo and the capital Damascus.
Rebels have been besieging air bases across the north in recent weeks, in the hope this will reduce the government's power to carry out air strikes and resupply loyalist-held areas.
Dozens killed in Syrian blast as UN says 60,000 dead in conflict
A rebel fighter speaking from near the Taftanaz base overnight said the base's main sections were still in loyalist hands but insurgents had managed to infiltrate and destroy a helicopter and a fighter jet on the ground.
The northern rebel Idlib Coordination Committee said the rebels had detonated a car bomb inside the base.
The government's SANA news agency said the base had not fallen and that the military had "strongly confronted an attempt by the terrorists to attack the airport from several axes, inflicting heavy losses among them and destroying their weapons and munitions".
Rami Abdulrahman, head of the opposition-aligned Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which monitors the conflict from Britain, said as many as 800 fighters were involved in the assault, including Islamists from Jabhat al-Nusra, a powerful group that Washington considers terrorists.
Taftanaz is mainly a helicopter base, used for missions to resupply army positions in the north, many of which are cut off by road because of rebel gains, as well as for dropping crude "barrel bombs" of explosives on rebel-controlled areas.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
60,000 dead Muslims.....
And the bad news is?
dead muslims aren't much fun...
you know that there were christians in there too...
and the bad news is?
dead christians aren't much fun...
i'm just glad no puppies were killed...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57KDDKbfhmI
Achmed (the dead terrorist) will have lots of company it seems... Don't look at him or ... "I Keell YOU!"
"More than 60,000 people have been killed in the 22-month-old uprising and civil war, the United Nations said this week, sharply raising the death toll estimate in a conflict that shows no sign of ending."
It was around 40000 for a long time.
But within two months, for UN, human rights groups/watches and many vested groups, they jump to 60000!!
Eveyone knows that seventh barbaric, beastly and highly bigoted one-way traffic Sunni rulers of House of Saud, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, and other Sunni Arab League nations and their hating and killing fronts like Salaffi, al Qaida, MB and other ones are supporting most intolerant Sunni Syrian rebels!
LET THEM HANDLE THEIR BATTLES.
WE HAVE NO ROLES!
LOL
"dead puppies aren't much fun..."
been a long time
Ban gas stations.
Fine by me. I use the sun to get around. We could ban Power stations as well and i would still be good to go.
i saw the videos from the air strike on the previous gas station. I saw some messed up things on that video that will stick with me for a long time. I follow this stuff because I need to be aware, if only as an outsider how messed up war is.
This type of thing could break out any place on the planet. If more of us insisted on watching and taking to hart the death and destruction that war causes, I am vary sure that we would insist on the kind of change that must take place so that none of us has to see bodies in pieces for ourselves.
It is easy to joke when the dieing is in someone else home, it is quite another thing when it is our family burning in what used to be our home or at the bombed out gas station down the street.
Think a civil war will never happen in the US again? You might be right, but we are as divided now as we ever have been. It would not take many missteps to bring war to our front doors.
Pay attention and learn. Don't look away from those bodies, don't turn your head away from the destruction. We all need to know the horrors so it NEVER ends up on our door step.
Before that, ban the Sunni extremist Salaffi and Wahhabi mosques, which have become hate preaching and killer training centers.
Sunni Saudi rulers, oil companies and their lobbyists got us busy into Iraqi wars.
These very ungrateful and backstabbing, Sunni Saudi, Kuwaiti, UAE, Qatari rulers got busy into manipulating high oil prices; made themselves rich and funded their Salaffi and Wahhabi mosques all over the world.
How many mosques were there before 1991 and how many are there now in the US, Britain, France, Germany and other European nations?
terrorism in our country, camebecause of some Arab and European countries, which are supporting the Terrorist Armed Groups by money and weapons.We have the right to decide how we gonna solve our problems by Syrian hands .these terrorists want to erase the identity of the Syrian Arab Army by charging himwith crimes he never did , in fact the Armed groups the part who did that crimes. These Armed people are not all Syrians ,there are a lot of them came from different countries like Libya and Turkey
If only kim kartrashian had been there when the explosion occurred. Maybe next time the world will get lucky.
ban gas stations . lol yeah sounds right . i like it .
The bad news is kim kartrashian was not one of the 60,000.
Syria is doomed, no matter who wins, the terrorist rebels or the terrorist regime, the country that has forever been poor, without any significant natural resources or industry and now also completely devastated and demolished will take 10s of years to rebuild.
Even if Assad is toppled in the next few months sectarian fighting will still go on for years, the Sunni Muslims will not rest till they murder or force to immigrate the Christians and Alawites, which on the other hand, of course, will try to stop them from doing so.
Anyways I see a very grim future for Syria, at least in the next 50 years.
Rightly said!
What bothers me are: why should be go in between their Allah's battles and why fronts for the Sunni Islamic haters and killers like Syrian Observatory for Human Rights are allowed to function in Britain?
in Syria, if Assad is overthrown by Sunni Islamic religious Nazis like al-Qaida, MB, the conditions of Christians Iill be unbearable just like Iraq.
Followers of Islamic cult, especially House of Saud and other Sunni ME rulers inspired and funded Sunni Islamic radicals and militants (al-Qaida, Salaffi, Wahhabi, MB, Taliban and other label ones), are fast marching backwards to their seventh century desert tribal days.
They are indulging in rapings, lootings, killings and genocides of non-Muslims (Darfur, S. Sudan, Nigeria and spreading like wild fire in many regions and Muslims (Libya, Yemen, Mali, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places).
In Egypt, the Sunni extremists with labels like Salaffi and MB (Muslim Blood hounds) are opening up new chapters of Islamic bigotry. Morsi is just a front for them.
Just watch the fate of Christians, women and Israel as the time goes by.
Pakis and Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and other Sunni Arab League nations are responsible for 80 percent of world problems including economic ones.
Examine the devastations with Iraqi wars and now sanctions on Iranian oil and the resultant oil price manipulations.
Sooner or later, we will have to erase fountainheads of Islamic extremism, hating and killing, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan from the map for world peace and some sanity in the world.
stevephoenix- Sorry buddy , but i see you don't know much about Syria , Syria is the only self sufficient country in the whole middle east , and they found out they more natural gas than these Alqaida masters ( the Qataris ) have . and that,s why most of this war about , Syria is the only country that allow Christians to live free and practice their religion , unlike our best friends the Saudis , where they arrested 41 people for trying to celebrate Christmas , and that's the country that 19 of their citizens attacked here on 9/11 . and we attacked Iraq instead and now we are helping these thugs in destroying Syria , I wish some one in Washington have the guts to ask and investigate , Hillary , Lieberman , McCain and Graham , these are our fine senators that want to destroy Syria , and willing to send our troops and money to do it , Assad is as much threat to as much Saddam was , and we all know how that went .
I am not sure about the natural gas and if that is the motive, but I agree with the rest of your comments. We need to stop meddling in Syria.
my turn, "Syria is the only country that allow Christians to live free and practice their religion"
Same applies in beautiful Lebanon; Christian population of around 30%, or about two million, same as Syria. and the only Arab-speaking country with a Christian president (and from memory, the only Arab country without a desert).
Interesting to note, three years ago a friend spent Christmas in Syria with his family, and I was surprised to see photographs of the Alawiya community also celebrating Christmas (with a Xmas tree) as a mark of respect for their Christian countrymen. This will never happen anywhere else in the Middle East.
Not so surprising, the Alawayia will happily co-exist with Christians but NOT with the Sunni. Likewise the Sunni feel comfortable with Christians but watch the sparks fly when the Sunni get too familiar with the Shia (I've witnessed this several times in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Oman)
Both the Sunni and Shia utterly disdain each other, and have done so almost from the day the 62-year-old bandit prophet Muhammad (Mr 20%) died like a poisoned rat in AD 632, when rivalry was spawned between Muhammad's third wife, the then 18-year-old Ayeesha (Sunni), and her arch enemy, the 32-year-old Ali (Shia), Muhammad's son-in-law, self declared successor, and fourth caliph, who was slain in an Iraqi mosque in AD 661.
Amazing indeed, if Muslims cannot tolerate each other how can they possibly co-exist with non-Muslims.
Sir Vival: You are getting mixed up on Lebanon.
Please study the history of Christians and their genocides by all sections of Muslims (including warring tribes and sects).
Here Hezbollah and Syria's Assad father are the biggest culprits.
Look at that the very Hezbollah, the brave minority and women fighters!
When Assad is being kicked by Saudi, Qatari and other Sunni gangsters, where are the tenth century Shiites Islamic barbarians of Hezbollah hiding?
Are they hiding Shiites women burkhas/niqabs?
Next time, instead of slashing or chaining themselves on their holy days, they should hang themselves openly in deserts!
Advancing from bad to worse. True @ myturn: I have a friend who works in S. Arabia and he's a Christian and has
to keep a low profile because of this.
More the merrier!
Less nuisances and liabilities on earth.
We infidels should not go near them. Or else, they will forget their Allah's battles and pounce on us jointly!
Examine Iraqi wars' history and Lebanon!
Did you notice in the editor's picks section at the top of MSN page with the picture "tease" about the article calling Syria a "Western Asia" country? It is absolutely unbelieveable the lengths MSNBC and the rest of the left wing idiots will go to avoid calling it what it is. It's a Middle East country. The basic game for the lefties is to change definitions and names to suit how they perceive things rather than report what they actually are. This isn't reporting ... it's propaganda.
Just Islam doing what it does best and that is kill, maim and destroy for Allah. Who has the better Islam? Is it Shia, Sunni or Alawite or another sect? If you don't agree with one sect then it is time for "I kiiiiiilllllll you"
Why is it that nbc always gets their news from "the opposition activists"?
Because our esteemed journalists are, by and large, gullible fools.
But farideh has a good point - they keep trying to sell us the "poooooor, oppressed little darling rebels" krap, even though the American people aren't buying it anymore; or maybe more correctly, NEVER did.
HOTTICKET:
I agree it's a good point, and I'm actually surprised that the American people has been largely skeptical.
Perhaps that's due to the media's lapdog complicity in the Iraq War.
"opposition blames car bomb"
Well now, what are the odds that car bomb WASN'T detonated by the opposition itself?
I'd say pretty damned slim, and Obama needs to explain to the American people why we're giving these terrorists ANY support at all!
Headline "... opposition blames car bomb":
I suspect a surreptitious motive to this useless claim
First, who or what is this fragmented collective called "the opposition".
Second, which faction of this elusive "opposition" claims it was a car bomb? The divergent factions can't even agree on tactics
Third, since the station was busy, there must have been numerous survivors who witnessed the event, in which case why state the source of the explosion was a car bomb? Isn't it obvious it was a car bomb when so many people saw and heard the blast?
This leads to only one plausible conclusion: the "car bomb" claim is blatantly superfluous and is intended to deflect suspicion away from the "opposition" and onto the government.
Talk about whistling in the dark!
Why would Assads forces uses car bombs when they have air strikes. Only terrorist uses car bombs. Well there is a chance but these are tactics more used by insurgents trying to topple a government.
I'm hoping for another story (by CNN) on terrorists falling in love and getting married in the midst of the war and personal tragedy.
Syria is the home of some of the oldest evidence of human civilization. It is more proof that progress is not always guaranteed. Syria is tearing itself apart and the rest of us do need to be concerned.
The opposition coalition is one of 3 choices for a solution. The rebels need to extricate themselves from the Islamist agenda, or the west will not send a bullet. Why would the US help the rebels if they can only expect a dead ambassador, or anti-American riots in the aftermath. But the Islamists are getting the weapons from their Sunni brethren, and are showing the biggest gains on the battlefield. The coalition appears to be a shell for western media consumption. At any rate, the first choice to end the conflict is to offer solid support for the coalition, topple the Assad regime.
The 2nd choice is to enforce a partition into 2 seperate nations. The Alawite will not be governed by the Sunni, and the Sunni will not tolerate the Alawites.
The 3rd choice is to let the war linger until Syria is reduced to rubble and desperate fighters. It will be a blood letting stalemate of Jihadist gun runners and bomb makers versus government tanks and planes. Syria will become a modern version of the 30 years war fought between sectarian proxies. The revolutionary guard of Iran facing off against the Salafist Sunnis, with weapons supplied by Russia and Turkey to make the killing more deadly.
The Alawites cannot win over the 80% of the population that does not want them in power anymore.
If Sunnis can’t tolerate a very good leader, like Assad, then Shiites should not accept Sunni rulers either. Sunni rulers have been treating girls, women, Shiites, Sufis, Ahemdias and minorities worse than slaves.
Time has come for all of us to stand up and battle for liberations from Sunni barbarians and beasts.
So this means Shiites should ask for their Shiastans wherever they form more than 10 percent.
They should start their liberation struggles from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan (20 percent), Qatar, Oman and other places which have Sunni rulers.
What a bunch of cowards Shiites are? They talk big, act big and show their bravery before unarmed minorities like Jews, women and others. Then they add their dances when they stone them.
Shiites of Iraq should side with Kurds and should stop oil supplies to Turkey for supporting the Sunni Islamic extremists like al-Qaida, MB in Syria.
Shiites of Bahrain should overthrow their autocratic, corrupt and despotic Sunni ruler.
As they have been taking blows and killings by Sunnis, these Sunnis are able to act as they like to Shiites.
Shiites of Iran should side with Assad and see that all the Sunni rebels are eliminated.
What are the brave Hezbollah doing?
They should do suicide bombings in Mecca and Medina. Or else Shiites genocides just like the genocides of non-Muslims by the Sunni Islamic religious Nazis will continue.
soon, Assad the Butcher will get what he deserves, hanging or life in prison for genocide if he's lucky
And what about all the war crimes committed but opposition leaders. Instead of being hung they will be promoted to power.