Update on U.S. embassy attack in Greece

Police guard the entrance of the US Embassy in Athens after unknown assailants fired a rocket into the facility causing damage to the building but no casualties, police and US officials said. Police sources said the rocket penetrated the building near the front-entrance emblem and exploded inside, damaging toilet facilities on the embassy's third floor(AFP/Louisa Gouliamaki)

I saw this breaking story on the U.S. embassy through the television news last night, and wrote a quick post on it. Here are a few more details about the attack. From MSNBC:

ATHENS, Greece - The U.S. Embassy in Athens came under fire early Friday from a rocket that exploded inside the modern glass-front building but caused no casualties in an attack police suspect was the work of Greek leftists.

Narrowly missing the embassy emblem, the anti-tank shell pierced the building near the front entrance shortly before 6 a.m., damaging a bathroom on the third floor, which houses the ambassador’s office, and shattering windows in nearby buildings.

Map showing location of a terrorist attack against the U.S. embassy in Athens, Greece. From MSNBC.

“We’re treating it as a very serious attack,” U.S. Ambassador Charles Ries said.

Greece’s Public Order Minister said police were examining the authenticity of anonymous phone calls to a private security company claiming responsibility on behalf of Revolutionary Struggle, a militant left-wing group.

“It is very likely that this is the work of a domestic group,” Minister Vyron Polydoras said. “We believe this effort to revive terrorism is deplorable and will not succeed.”

Revolutionary Struggle claimed responsibility for a May 2006 bomb attack on Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis, in which nobody was hurt.

Police anti-terrorist officers investigate the area behind the banner of the US Embassy in Athens on Friday, Jan. 12, 2007. An anti-tank shell was fired at the U.S. embassy early Friday, striking the front of the building but causing no injuries. Greece's public order minister said the blast was 'very likely' an act of terrorism by a domestic group, raising fears of resurgent violence by far-left Greek militants. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)

What really strikes me here is the timing of this attack--early Friday morning before 6 a.m. There is nobody in the embassy at that time, and thus no casualties. Did this Revolutionary Struggle choose this time so as not to inflict civilian casualties in their attack? Here is what the New York Times reports on the Revolutionary Struggle in its story on the embassy bombing:

The embassy said in a statement that it was hit by a missile. Mr. Ries said that the site was not occupied at the time of the attack and that it was now a crime scene under investigation by Greek authorities. Revolutionary Struggle, a Marxist group with strong anti-American sentiments, emerged in 2003, bombing an Athens courthouse complex.

The group remains the most active Greek terror organization since the downfall of the country’s most deadly urban guerrilla group, November 17, blamed for killing 23 people — including American, British and Turkish officials — and for dozens of bomb attacks.

Charles Ries, U.S. Ambassador to Greece, makes statement after an explosion hit the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece, early Friday, Jan. 12, 2007. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

So far, the previous Revolutionary Struggle attacks have yet produced any casualties, as reported in the MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Database. The group certainly attempted an assassination of the Greek Culture Minister George Voulgarakis last May 30, 2006. According to the MIPT Terrorism Database, Revolutionary Struggle claimed that Voulgarakis was involved in an illegal interrogation of Pakistani residents, and that the assassination attempt against Voulgarakis was justified because of this interrogation, and Greece's role in the U.S. "war on terror." So this terrorist group will kill.

We're back to the timing on this attack. I get the impression that this attack was an impulsive retaliation against the U.S. escalation of both the war in Iraq, and the U.S. raid on the Iranian consulate in Northern Iraq. This embassy attack takes place two days after President Bush's surge speech, and a day after the U.S. attack on the Iranian consulate. Revolutionary Struggle may have decided to make their own quick, retaliatory strike against the U.S. just after these major news events. In one sense, this is a brilliant move on the group's part. This quick attack just after the surge speech and Iranian raid certainly generated major headlines and media attention on Revolutionary Struggle--they've picked up a lot of media brownie points for this attack. And the more media brownie points that the terrorist group can get, the more they can spread their own political agenda and ideology throughout the world. The 6 a.m. raid was the best time to initiate this attack, since the city would still be sleeping--the Revolutionary Struggle terrorists could initiate their attack, and then quickly escape. Any later times would require the group to stake out the embassy, learn about both the embassy security and the security around the neighborhood, and determine traffic patterns for potential escape routes--all of this will take time, if you want to initiate an attack to inflict maximum civilian casualties. The more time you're watching the embassy, and the surrounding area, to determine its patterns, the lesser the media impact you're going to have for initiating a terror strike just after a political or world event. Revolutionary Struggle saw an opportunity to generate some serious media exposure with this attack, and they took it.

They succeeded.