U.S. Embassy Attacked in Damascus

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September 12, 2006 6:22 PM

The U.S. has long accused Syria of supporting terrorism, but today it was Syrian government troops that saved the day for the U.S. in Damascus.

It was over in 20 minutes. A van rigged with explosives failed to detonate, but 14 passers-by were injured in the attack, and there was panic at a nearby school.

"A private school of about 300 children. They were all screaming and crying. It was really, a real panic in the area, a heavily populated area with a lot of embassies," Tony Touma of ABC News described.

According to witnesses and U.S. officials, the attack began just after 10 in the morning when three men in a stolen car pulled up to the embassy's front gate. The men got out, blew up the car, opened fire on a guard booth and lobbed grenades over the embassy wall.

Syrian guards across the street killed the three attackers, and one guard died in the gun battle.

The embassy was open for business, and the top diplomat was inside.  But the walls were not breached fully, and there was minimal damage.

Moments later, a second vehicle rigged to explode, a stolen white van, raced to a back vehicle entrance to the embassy. The driver got out but was shot in the legs and did not detonate the explosives.

Damage again was minimal, and no U.S. employees were even injured, despite what security experts said was a well-designed attack.

"The terrorists' planning seemed to be very professional, very well done. Obviously, something went wrong in their bomb making; the Syrians were on the money; the embassy was buttoned up; we had a good day," said Bruce Tully, a former agent of the U.S. Diplomatic Secret Service.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice offered grudging thanks to the Syrians.  "We expect that the Syrians are still going to carry out their international responsibilities to protect embassies, even if we have very deep differences between the governments."

Given the support Syria has offered the insurgents in Iraq, some wondered today whether today's attack was an unintended consequence.

"These are the kind of attacks they carry out. They are angry young men, they are ill-equipped, but most of them are highly motivated. And they are suicidal, they are ready to die," said Steven Simon of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Syrian government officials said a Muslim fundamentalist group with close ties to al Qaeda was likely responsible, but the Syrians used the moment to blame U.S. policies for fueling extremism and terrorism.