Four Killed in Attack Outside U.S. Embassy in Syria

A burnt car is seen outside the US embassy in Damascus. Gunmen have launched a brazen daylight assault on the US embassy in Damascus, using grenades, automatic weapons and an explosives-laden van in a foiled "terror" attack that has left four people dead.(AFP/Sana)

This is off The Washington Post:

DAMASCUS, Sept. 12--At least three armed assailants and a Syrian security guard were killed Tuesday outside the U.S. Embassy building here in what Syrian authorities said was a foiled plot to storm the compound. No Americans were injured.

An explosion was heard about 10 a.m. (3 a.m. EDT) on the street outside the embassy, officials said. Although the area was quickly cordoned off to journalists, the charred remains of a parked vehicle could be seen, along with pools of blood. At one point, a plume of smoke was visible from inside the embassy compound.

Syrian officials said one Syrian security guard was killed, and another critically injured, in the effort to stop the planned attack. They said the attackers appeared to be religious extremists, who shouted "Allahu Ahkbar! (God is Great) during the confrontation.

In addition to the three slain assailants, a fourth was seriously injured, officials said.

Syrian firefighters hose a burnt car and the bodies of gunmen near the U.S. embassy in Damascus which was the target of an attack September 12, 2006. Four gunmen attacked the U.S. embassy in Damascus on Tuesday, but failed to harm any American diplomats before all four were killed, a Syrian official said. Syrian state television said the attackers had tried to detonate a car bomb in front of the embassy but had failed. REUTERS/SANA/Handout (SYRIA)

The embassy building is surrounded by high walls and located in a diplomatic neighborhood of Damascus, close to other foreign missions. Like U.S. government facilities elsewhere in the world, it is guarded by U.S. Marines inside the compound, and local security forces on the outside.

Witnesses said the explosions did not seem large enough to have come from a full-fledged car bomb; instead, some said, the attackers appeared to have detonated grenades or rockets before engaging in a gun battle with security forces.

Heavy automatic weapon fire could be heard for about 15 or 20 minutes at the start of the confrontation. Syrian officials later said a second vehicle, possibly a van, was rigged with explosives as part of the plot but had been disarmed.

Syria's ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, told CNN that a group called Jund al-Sham, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, was suspected in the attack, the Associated Press reported.

Map of Damascus locating the US embassy. Gunmen have launched a brazen daylight assault on the US embassy in Damascus, using grenades, automatic weapons and an explosives-laden van in a foiled "terror" attack that has left four people dead.(AFP/Graphic)

Just one day after the five-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we get some gunmen from an terror group, that is an off-shoot of al Qaeda, to launch their own attack against the U.S. Embassy in Syria. We've got terrorists in Iraq, we've got terrorists in Afghanistan, and now we've got terrorists in Syria--what are we going to have to do now? Invade Syria?

Terrorism certainly exists throughout this world--in every country. And since we're the sole superpower in this world, much of the terrorist's anger is going to be concentrated against us. There is not much we can do but to prepare for the unexpected.

But that is not all. Our current policies in the Middle East have been a disaster, perhaps inciting more terrorism against us. The U.S. war in Iraq has not reduced terrorism, but rather has incited it. Our endorsement of secret prisons in Eastern Europe, the use of torture by the CIA, the Hadifa killings, and the general bullying-type attitude we have projected throughout the world for the past five years has generated tremendous anger against the U.S. We have brought this anger and terror attacks upon us--and I say WE because we, the American people, have elected George Bush and his neoconservative extremists into the White House. We have allowed Bush to push these hard-line policies without any oversight, without questions. The seeds that we have sown with hatred, decisiveness, and fear is now producing the bitter fruit. There will be more violence against the United States.

There will be more terror attacks.