It appears that the explosion on a Syrian bus near the Haffez Assad Bridge in Damascus Wednesday morning, that let 14 people dead, is another terrorist act perpetrated by the Islamic State or some other Islamist, jihadist group, the Syrian military said in an announcement released on the SANA news agency.
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The attack was an attempt to hurt the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad and prevent him from rebuilding the country and its military, which have been debilitated by the country's 10-year war.
However, the deaths of the bus passengers is sparking questions about whether the blast was a routine terrorist act targeting Syrian soldiers, or was an attempt to take out Iranian officials or pro-Iranian Syrian officials who are operating under coverage of the Syrian regime's defense establishment.
None of the official announcements stated that the passengers on the bus were Syrian soldiers, although reports of the attack from Lebanon and Syrian media outlets stated that they were Iranian officers.
As of Wednesday afternoon, no jihadist or rebel organization in Syria, particularly ISIS, had claimed responsibility for the bombing, which is atypical of ISIS and the other Islamist groups active in Syria. These organizations tend to boast about the attacks they carry out, especially when they target the "defense forces of the infidel regime."
The characteristics of the bus bombing and the way in which it was perpetrated also appear to hint that it wasn't the work of a terrorist organization. From various Syrian and foreign reports, one could get the impression that the target of the attack and the location at which the bombs were detonated were carefully chosen to avoid collateral damage. In fact, the blast occurred after the bus was across the Haffez Assad Bride and well away from the bustling streets of Damascus. Neither ISIS nor other terrorist groups would have hesitated to set off the bombs in a crowded area, as they would have wanted to harm as many civilians as possible.
The Syrian army announced that the bus had been blown up by two powerful roadside bombs that demolished the vehicle and left its occupants no chance of surviving. A third bomb found at the site was dismantled by Syrian army sappers. We can assume that the bombs that did go off were strong enough to kill everyone on board, and the third bomb was meant to be used as backup. But this isn't how ISIS and the other jihadist organizations in the Middle East and Syria in particular – who prefer casualty numbers over "quality" terrorist target – operate.
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