BEIRUT —Suicide bombers targeted the main Syrian military headquarters in the heart of Damascus on Wednesday in the most significant attack in the capital in more than two months, triggering scenes of panic and widespread gunfire.
The early-morning blasts outside the Syrian army’s General Staff Command offered renewed confirmation that Syria’s rebels are capable of penetrating the upper echelons of the country’s military establishment.
State television said the attack was carried out by suicide bombers and broadcast security-camera footage showing a white van exploding on the main highway just outside the headquarters’ perimeter fence. Moments later, there was a second explosion within the grounds that the anchor said was also caused by a suicide bomb.
Videos posted on YouTube showed clouds of smoke billowing over the headquarters. Four guards were killed and 14 people were wounded, state media said.
The attack was the closest the rebels challenging the rule of President Bashar Assad have come to reaching his inner circle since a bombing in July killed four of his top security advisers, including the defense minister and Assad’s brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat.
Reports that the current defense minister and several military commanders were injured in this latest attack were “groundless,” Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi told state television, blaming the attack on “terrorists.”
The Free Syrian Army’s Damascus Military Council and an Islamist group, Tajamo’ Ansar al-Islam, claimed responsibility in statements on their Facebook pages. Free Syrian Army spokesman Col. Aref Hammoud said the attack was a collaborative effort targeting security officials who he said had proved even more brutal than those killed in July.
“The number of Syrians killed doubled after they took over,” he said, speaking by telephone from southern Turkey.
