Syria: suicide bomber hits Damascus mosque

Most suicide bombers have targeted civilians but yesterday’s attacker appears
to have walked up to soldiers outside the mosque before detonating his
explosives. Most of the dead were wearing military uniform, witnesses said.

The attack, which could suggest a shift in tactic from the rebels, came as the
Conservative Middle East Council, a British think tank, gave warning that a
lack of Western action in Syria could strengthen Islamist elements in Syria.

“The danger facing Syria now is that, as long as the armed opposition ins weak
and isolated from international backing, it may increasingly seek support –
in terms of men, material and knowledge – from Salafist and/or violent
Jihadist groups,” the council wrote in a briefing paper.

The rebels and the government have each accused each other of repeated
violations of the ceasefire brokered by Kofi Annan, the UN and Arab League
special envoy to Syria.

A full advance team of 30 UN observers is expected to be in place by Monday,
with the mission expected to grow to a total of 300 within a month.

Many opposition protesters, who gathered in their thousands across Syria on
Friday, have expressed anger at the perceived fecklessness of the observers
already on Syria soil.

Demonstrators in the southern city of Deraa jumped onto a UN vehicle yesterday
and pounded it with their fists after carrying the body of a boy said to
have been shot dead by Syrian troops to the vehicle. The observers escaped
unharmed after other protesters threw a protective cordon around the vehicle.

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