Not Rushing to Call This One

A big part of me is convinced that Syrian regime is behind the dual explosions that took place today in Damascus and killed dozens of people. About an hour ago I tweeted the following:
“Let’s see if the Syrian regime can pull off a more convincing ‘Abu 3adas’ video this time..”

The Syrian regime has a remarkable ability of conjuring up terrorist ‘Alqaeda’ activity whenever it’s convenient to it. It can’t be a coincidence that the explosions took place at the same day the Arab league’s observers came to Syria to monitor the regime’s excesses. Moreover, the area in question is heavily secured and it’s difficult to imagine an armed outsider slipping in with a bomb. Last but not least, the immediacy with which the regime announced that this was a suicide attack by Alqaeda and started streaming endless graphic images on TV appears suspiciously rehearsed.

But is this conviction beyond any reasonable doubt?

There are people out there who believe that the Syrian opposition is entirely peaceful. They dream of a Ghandian resistance that will overthrow the thugs of the Assad regime with the sole power of their will and conviction. I’m not one of those people.

That doesn’t mean that I’m subscribed to the Assad version of events. I don’t for instance believe that the revolutionary were armed “gangs and terrorists” from the beginning. But I do believe that there are many people out there who lost brothers, sisters, children and mothers to that regime and have sworn to themselves that they’ll get even. Considering the amount of regional enemies the regime has, I also believe that the revolutionaries have easy access to bomb-making materials and expertise. So it is not a wild stretch of the imagination to believe that the explosions were a form of “payback” to a bloody regime by people who lost loved ones.

This is why I’m holding judgment for the moment. We could very well be witnessing a new bloody chapter in this Syrian civil war..