Vanessa Beeley
21st Century Wire
“We forgot what is to wake up to sunshine in this land now we wake up to limbs all over the streets, to cries of fear, to the smell of blood..” ~ Shababeek Souria
This morning, at 9am, a series of suicide bomb attacks rocked the Syrian coastal regions of Jableh, Latakia and Tartous. Exam time for high school children in the region, the bombers picked time and targets that would have the most devastating effect on these tight-knit communities that have been the refuge for many of the internally displaced refugees since the US, NATO war against Syria began 5 years ago.
“Those humble cities that house millions of people displaced from all over Syria will go unmentioned in the newsrooms today..those people will be mere numbers to be added to the death toll of this war.. they are not Paris, or Brussles, or London or Moscow.. just imagine this happening at your town, your city..” ~ Leen Ibrahim
The following video report is taken from Middle East Channel and states that Ahrar Al Sham, US nominated “moderate rebel” faction has taken responsibility.
The following report is taken from SANA, Syria’s National media outlet:
“Tartous/Lattakia, SANA – At least 78 people were killed and scores, were injured, some critically, in a series of terrorist bombings that rocked the coastal cities of Tartous and Jableh on Monday morning.
A source at Lattakia Police Command said that 45 people were killed and others, mostly women and children, were injured, in the terrorist attacks hit Jableh city.
SANA correspondent in Lattakia said that twin terrorist bombings targeted the main entrance of the bus station in Jableh city and another terrorist bombing happened near Jableh Electricity Directorate on the outskirts of al-Amara residential neighborhood.
A fourth bombing happened as a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of emergency department at Jableh National Hospital.
In Tartous, SANA reporter said that three terrorist bombings rocked the province this morning leaving more than 33 people killed and 47 others injured.
The reporter added that a car bomb exploded at the bus station gate, while a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the station.
According to the reporter, another terrorist blew himself up in the residential suburb located in front of the bus station to the west of the city.
The bombings left huge material damage.
Hundreds of Lattakia residents and students from Tishreen University rushed to the blood transfusion center to donate blood for the victims of the terrorist bombings that took place in Jableh.”
Since the news broke this morning, shocked residents based in the surrounding areas have been reporting additional information. The death toll has climbed to over 100 with many of the injured in a critical condition. The Jableh wounded have been ferried to hospitals inside Latakia where Doctors are working tirelessly to save lives and limbs that have been broken and lacerated during yet another brutal, merciless killing spree by the US and NATO backed mercenary forces on the ground inside Syria.
“Breaking News in Syria: this morning, May 23, 2016, while passengers were crowded at the Jeblah bus station, car bombs went off, which killed many and utterly destroyed the entire area. It looks like total devastation. I imagine there were multiple car bombs, because of the vast area destroyed at the bus station. Then, while the ambulances were rushing to pick up the injured, a suicide bomber got into the ambulance undetected, in the chaos, and then when all the patients got off loaded to the Al Watany Hospital in Jeblah, he/she then detonated their suicide bombs and destroyed part of the hospital, and killed many and injured more in the hospital.
To make matters worse, a twin set of explosions occurred in Tartus, which is about 1 hour drive South of Jeblah. Jeblah is 20 minutes South of Latakia. There are heavy casualties in Tartus as well. Both attacks were at the same time period this morning. Ahrar al Sham is a terrorist group and they have already claimed responsibility. Ahrar al Sham is 100% supported and defended by the United States of America. When will the Obama administration STOP supporting these Radical Islamic terrorists? When will the American people demand their government to STOP supporting these terrorists?” ~ Lilly Martin Sahiounie, Latakia
As the huge numbers of injured were pouring into the hospitals of Latakia and Tartous, there was a desperate need for blood donations.
“Immediate Alert! All medical personnel available to report forthwith to Jeblah Al Watany Hospital. Excepting, those on duty at Latakia, as heavy causalities are arriving via dozens of ambulances now racing toward hospitals all over Latakia. If you can report to a Latakia hospital now, please do so. Syria is now under extreme attack by Ahrar al Sham, the American supported and equipped terrorist group, who Pres. Obama calls ‘moderate rebels’.
The ambulances are racing from Latakia to Jeblah all morning. This is the worst morning of carnage for Latakia province in many years. May God bless Syria and the Syrian people who are resisting the terrorists who are supported by USA, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and all the European countries. May God take his vengeance on all the evil terrorists. May God find a way to STOP these filthy dogs and their supporters. My prayer has always been, “Please God, stop the terrorists.” ~ Lilly Martin Sahiounie in Latakia
Western Media Reaction
Unsurprisingly, the western media has attempted to dehumanize the victims as being Assad “loyalists” or by describing the region as a “regime bastion”. This disgusting display of terrorist partisan reporting is to be expected from the US NATO propaganda cabal but is, nevertheless, a shocking indictment of the immoral depths to which they have plunged to justify neo-colonialist objectives in the region.
Images courtesy of Electronic Resistance
US Terrorism by Proxy
According to a later Middle East Channel report, there is some confusion over which faction has claimed responsibility for this massacre.
“According to reports, death reaped the lives of about 100 civilians in the two Syrian coastal cities; Jableh and Tartus. Seven blasts hit these two cities which host two Russian military facilities: the Khmeimim airbase and the Tartus naval base.
Some reports say that IS claimed responsibility for these attacks saying that it targeted them as they are supporters of President Bashar Al-Assad. While others say that Ahrar Al-Sham movement is the group responsible for this attack.”
Russia has been calling for Ahrar al Sham and Jaish al Islam to be designated terrorist groups in Syria with links to Al Qaeda. The US has persisted in defending and protecting its proxy terrorist forces, claiming “moderate rebel” status for the Ahrar al Sham bloodletters and entertaining Mohammed Alloush, leader of the Jaish al Islam group in the UN Geneva travesty of peace talks.
“Britain, the United States, France and Ukraine blocked a Russian proposal at the United Nations to blacklist Syrian rebel groups Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham for links to Islamic State and al Qaeda militants, diplomats said on Wednesday.
Russia made the proposal late last month and the U.S. mission to the United Nations had signalled it would oppose the move, saying it would undermine attempts to get a sustained halt in the fighting in Syria.” ~ Reuters
Within 24 hours of the US refusal to accept Ahrar Al Sham’s clear ties to the Al Nusra/Al Qaeda group in Syria, Ahrar al Sham accompanied Al Nusra on an ethnic cleansing operation in the Alawite village of Al Zara. Scores of civilians, among them women and children were massacred in cold blood, many children were kidnapped and are still unaccounted for. While the western media cynically tried to white wash the Ahrar al Sham role in this blood bath, the eye witness reports contradicted this sanitized western account of the horrific events.
“They perpetrated a massacre,” said another villager, Munzer Qasem. “I heard of two or three entire families killed. Abu Naval’s family was killed. He was an old man and was killed together with his daughters. They were slaughtered in their own house.”
One of the gruesome images that emerged on social media showed Ahrar al-Sham fighters standing above several bloodied corpses of women. The group did not deny the veracity of the photograph, but insisted that the women bore arms, and had been killed in combat.” ~ SyrianFreePress
However, Jaish al-Fateh is a coalition of Jihadist groups in Syria formed in March 2015 and led by Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham. The group disbanded in October 2015 after differences over the application of Islamic law and Al Nusra left the group which permitted the US to attach “moderate” status to Ahrar Al Sham despite its terrorist history and associations.
In May 2016 the groups appear to have reunited, perhaps having reconciled their extremist differences:
According to Al-Hayat newspaper on May 2, Ahrar al-Sham commander Abu Yazid Taftanaz said that the “Jaish al-Fateh operations room is coming back to life and it will include Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham, Ajnad al-Sham, Failaq al-Sham, Jaish al-Sunna, Lewaa al-Haq and Hezb al-Islami al-Turkestani.”
On the next day, May 3, Jaish al Fateh’s English language twitter account pinned a tweet with the following picture and the hashtags #UNITY and #JAISHALFATH: ~ US Smoke and Mirrors to Protect Terrorist Proxies in Aleppo
In this video, United States Department spokesperson, Mark Toner, stumbles his way through his defence of Ahrar Al Sham claiming that adding them to the terrorist list would have “damaging consequences for the cessation”. This is a criminal act of compliance with mass murder in Syria. This blatant support of a terror faction that is responsible for the some of the most heinous crimes against humanity in Syria should not be allowed to slip by unnoticed or unpunished.
John Kerry, US Secretary of State threatened the Syrian Government with a never ending war should they fail to entertain the US demand for regime change.
“In a Voice of America report headlined “US still has leverage in Syria,” Kerry is quoted thus: “He said the greatest leverage [on Syria] was the fact that [President] Assad and his backers would never be able to end the war in Syria if they declined to negotiate a political settlement.” ~ Finian Cunninngham for Sputnik News
This is a clear admission that the US is chief sting puller of the multitude of gangs and mercenaries inside Syria regardless of the brand name given to them.
As such, the US is guilty of every crime committed by these outsourced assassins. The US, NATO, their Gulf and Israeli allies all of whom are oblivious to the trauma and off the scale horror being witnessed by the Syrian people on a daily basis. Their words drip with poison as the antidote they propose is to condemn these courageous and intervention resistant people to a lifetime of fear and sectarianism under a multi-dimensional Takfiri banner.
They will fail, but at what expense for the Syrian people?
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Author Vanessa Beeley is a contributor to 21WIRE, and since 2011, she has spent most of her time in the Middle East reporting on events there – as a independent researcher, writer, photographer and peace activist. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Syria Solidarity Movement, and a volunteer with the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine. See more of her work at her blog The Wall Will Fall.
READ MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria Files
