State TV said several soldiers and a large number of civilians were killed in two attacks "carried about by suicide bombers driving vehicles packed with explosives against bases of State Security [General Security Directorate] and another branch of the security services" in the upmarket Kfar Sousa district, south-west of the city centre.
The Syrian government is blaming al Qaeda, just as it blamed the group for a 'terrorist' attack on the American embassy in Damascus in 2006. Their condolences about the attack:
“It is regrettable that U.S. policies in the Middle East have fueled extremism, terrorism and anti-U.S. sentiment,” the Syrian Embassy in Washington said in a statement. “The U.S. should ... start looking at the root causes of terrorism and broker a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”
Chances are it's not al Qaeda, which was helped for years by the Assad regime in attacking targets in Iraq. It could be the Muslim Brotherhood, but this also appears unlikely considering their lack of recent attacks. That leaves two options left:
1. The opposition believes that Assad's dictatorship launched the attack itself to cause civilian casualties and blame it on the opposition. This certainly is a significant possibility.
2. The opposition launched the attack on the security building, mainly killing military or intelligence personnel. It may seem that the opposition would want to take credit for such an attack, but if any civilians were killed, they would not want such publicity. In addition, the regime would not want to accept such an attack publicly because it shows increasing strength and coordination among the rebels.
So it's not immediately clear who actually launched the attack, but expect more to come.
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