Al Arabiya Exclusive, 30 Sep 2012 – The regime of President Bashar al-Assad was behind a pair of car bomb attacks which killed 55 people outside a military intelligence complex in the Qazzaz area of Damascus on May 10, newly-leaked documents obtained by Al Arabiya reveal.
The documents are part of some highly-classified Syrian security files obtained by Al Arabiya from opposition sources. The channel said that it has verified and authenticated hundreds of these documents and that it has decided to disclose ones with substantial news value and political relevance.
THE QAZZAZ BOMBINGS
A presidential order to Saqr Mannon to carry out the Qazzaz bombing in “the absence of the media.” (Al Arabiya)
Following the twin-bombing in the Qazzaz neighbourhood of the capital Damascus, Syria’s foreign ministry said the attacks were a sign that the country was facing foreign-backed terrorism. The Arab League, on the other hand, stated that the attack was intended to undermine a U.N. monitoring mission in the country led then by special envoy Kofi Annan.
However, the leaked documents implicates the Syrian regime in the deadly Qazzaz explosions.
In a document sent from the presidential palace on May 8, two days before the fatal bombs, Maj. Gen. Dhu al-Himma Shalish, head of the Special Security of the Syrian president, addressed Saqr Mannon, head of the Air Force Intelligence Branch-291, telling him of the need to convince the international public opinion of the presence of terrorist groups in the country.
Shalish said that his orders follow instructions of the Joint Command, possibly in reference to Iran, Russia and the Syrian regime.
Shalish followed-up his commands by describing to Mannon the needed steps for the upcoming explosion.
The major general indicated that he was acting by the direct orders of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.
THE “SACRIFICE”
An order from Saqr Mannon, in the Army and Air Force headquarters, to Suhail Hassan, a colonel in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence, to carry out the Qazzaz explosion. (Al Arabiya)
A second leaked document, this time signed by Saqr Mannon and sent from the Army and Air Force headquarters, ordered Suhail Hassan, a colonel in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence, to apparently carry out the Qazzaz explosion, and to report back once the mission is accomplished.
According to the leaked files, Assad sacrificed hundreds of citizens and low-ranking security forces in order to convince international public opinion that terrorists have infiltrated the Syrian territory and started conducting mortal operations.
A narrative the regime keeps pushing forward since the start of the Syrian revolution in Mars 2011.
Al Arabiya’s exclusive series on the newly-leaked security documents continues tomorrow.
