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WORLD NEWSMonday 1 February 2016
Dozens killed by bombs in Syria, clouding UN peace session
BASSEM MROUE said at least 63 people
Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — A triple were killed, including 25
bombing killed at least 50
people in a predominantly pro-government Shiite
Shiite suburb south of the
Syrian capital of Damascus fighters. It said the dead
on Sunday even as a U.N.
mediator held his first meet- fighters included Syrians
ing with members of the
main opposition group that and foreigners.
seeks progress on humani-
tarian issues before it will The suburb is one of the
join formal talks on ending
the five-year civil war. first areas where Lebanon’s
The attacks were claimed
by militants from the Islamic Hezbollah group sent fight-
State group, and Syria’s
delegate to the U.N.-spon- ers in 2012 to protect it
sored peace talks said the
violence confirmed the from Sunni extremists who
connection between “ter-
rorism” and “some political vowed to blow up the
groups” — a reference to
those who oppose Presi- shrine.
dent Bashar Assad.
The blasts went off in the Da- Hezbollah and Shiite
mascus suburb of Sayyda
Zeinab, about 600 meters groups from Iraq are known
(yards) from one of the holi-
est shrines for Shiite Muslims. to have fighters in the area.
Syria’s state news agency
SANA said the attackers A website affiliated with the
detonated a car bomb at
a bus stop and that two sui- Islamic State group said the
cide bombers then set off
more explosives as rescuers attacks were carried out by
rushed to the area.
State TV showed sev- members of the Sunni Mus-
eral burning cars and a
scorched bus, as well as lim extremist group, which
blown out windows, twist-
ed metal and large holes controls large areas in both
in the facade of a nearby
apartment building. The Syria and Iraq. In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrians gather where three bombs
golden-domed Shiite shrine exploded in Sayyda Zeinab, a predominantly Shiite Muslim suburb of the Syrian capital, Syria,
itself was not damaged. The bombings cast a shad- Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016.
At least 50 people were
killed, the Syrian Foreign ow over the Geneva talks, Associated Press
Ministry said, with more
than 100 wounded. the first U.N. effort since
The Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights, a Britain- 2014 to try to end the con- blance of civilization is de- first, saying the U.N. Security cal groups, who claim that
based opposition group stroyed.” Council should put “pres- they are against terrorism.”
that monitors the conflict, flict that has killed at least The talks got off to a rocky sure on Russia to stop these Assad’s government has
start Friday when U.N. spe- crimes in Syria,” he said. long referred to all those
250,000 people, forced mil- cial envoy Staffan de Mis- Moscow, which began its fighting to overthrow him
tura met only with a Syr- airstrikes in Syria in Septem- as terrorists, but has agreed
lions to flee the country, ian government delega- ber, is a major Assad ally, to negotiations with some
tion. The main opposition along with Iran. armed groups in the latest
and given an opening to group, the Saudi-backed But Bashar Ja’afari, the talks.
Higher Negotiations Com- head of the Syrian delega- On Saturday night, Syrian
IS militants to capture terri- mittee or HNC, boycotted tion, criticized the opposi- Information Minister Omar
the session, saying it won’t tion in remarks to reporters. al-Zoubi told state TV the
tory. take part until preliminary “Those who speak about Assad government will
demands are met: the re- preconditions are coming “never accept” the inclu-
In Washington, U.S. Sec- lease of detainees, the end to this meeting in order to sion in the peace talks of
of the bombardment of derail it,” he said. “With the two militant groups it con-
retary of State John Kerry civilians by Russian and Syr- opposition’s delegation not siders terrorists.
ian forces, and the lifting of showing up, it shows that Ahrar al-Sham and the
appealed to both sides “to government blockades on they are not serious and ir- Army of Islam, two Islamic
rebel-held areas. responsible at a time when groups fighting to over-
make the most of this mo- On Sunday, de Mistura Syrians are being killed.” throw Assad, agreed to
paid an informal visit to the Ja’afari added that the take part in the Geneva
ment, to seize the oppor- HNC delegation, saying he Damascus-area bombings talks. The ultraconservative
is “optimistic and deter- “confirms what the Syrian Ahrar al-Sham is not part of
tunity for serious negotia- mined” about the talks. government has stated be- the team sent to Geneva,
HNC spokesman Salem al- fore — that there is a link but the delegation has
tions, to negotiate in good Mislet told The Associated between terrorism and the named Army of Islam offi-
Press that the violence sponsors of terrorism from cial Mohammed Alloush as
faith with the goal of mak- against civilians must stop one side, and some politi- its chief negotiator.q
ing concrete measurable
progress in the days imme-
diately ahead.”
“Now, while battlefield dy-
namics can affect negoti-
ating leverage, in the end
there is no military solution
to this conflict,” Kerry said.
“Without negotiations, the
bloodshed will drag on un-
til the last city is reduced to
rubble and virtually every
home, every form of infra-
structure, and every sem-
