Mortar shell hits Russian embassy in Syria

23/09/2013| IslamWeb

A mortar shell has landed in the compound of the Russian embassy in central Damascus, injuring three people, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"On September 22 as a result of shelling by the rebels of the Damascus neighborhood of Mazzeh, one of the shells exploded on the territory of the Russian embassy in Syria," the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"Three employees received non-life threatening injuries. Right now an investigation of the incident is under way."

The statement did not say whether those hurt were Russian or local employees, but it added that the embassy was looking into additional security measures after the attack.

Opposition forces have launched several mortar and rocket attacks in recent months into the center of the Syrian capital, where many embassies and senior Syrian officials are based.

The Russian mission was damaged in February when a car bomb exploded nearby on a busy Damascus highway, killing 50 people.

No one was wounded at the embassy, but that blast blew out windows in the building, Russian officials said.

Sunday's embassy attack comes on the same day that Russia criticized what it said were Western attempts to use a Syrian chemical arms disarmament deal to seek a UN resolution threatening force against Assad's government.

Lavrov also said Russia, which has used its veto to block Western efforts to use the UN Security Council's clout to pressure Assad's regime, was ready to send troops to Syria to "ensure the safety of UN chemical weapons inspectors".

Geneva conference

Meanwhile, the president of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, Ahmad Jarba, said on Sunday that he was willing to attend a proposed Geneva conference to end two and a half years of conflict in Syria if it aims to establish a transitional government with full powers.

In a letter to the United Nations Security Council, obtained by Reuters and dated September 19, Jarba said the coalition "reaffirms its willingness to engage in a future Geneva Conference" but "all parties must ... agree that the purpose of the conference will be the establishment of a transitional government with full executive powers" as stipulated by an agreement last year by international powers.

It was the first clear commitment by the Western-and-Arab-backed coalition to attend the proposed conference sponsored by the United States and Russia.

The coalition has been dithering on whether to attend, especially after a chemical weapons attack on August 21 that killed hundreds of people in Damascus.

PHOTO CAPTION

A handout released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows an aerial view of Damascus, on April 6, 2011. A mortar round hit the compound of the Russian embassy in Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Aljazeera