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Four Armed Men Attack U.S. Embassy in Damascus
A Syrian policeman stands guard outside a U.S. Embassy door that was hit by gunfire during the attack, which Syria's interior minister called a "terrorist operation" by Islamic militants. No Americans were wounded.
(By Hussein Malla -- Associated Press)
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The U.S. Embassy compound here is in the capital's diplomatic neighborhood, close to the Iraqi, Italian and Chinese embassies. It is surrounded by white walls described variously as eight to 15 feet high, with U.S. Marines providing security inside the compound and Syrian security forces outside.
Shortly after the attack Tuesday morning, a large plume of smoke rose over the compound, and a trail of blood ran down a nearby street where the gunmen were shot as they tried to escape, witnesses said.
Although the street of the embassy was closed, police allowed parents of students at a nearby school to slip past the barricade to pick up their children, many of whom were in tears. The embassy's American flag, which had been lowered to half-staff the day before in commemoration of the Sept. 11 attacks, was raised to its full height a few hours after the fighting.
"We could not believe that it would happen in the middle of the day in the most secure area of Damascus," said Ayman Abdul-Nour, a political analyst who saw the battle unfold. "In front of me, this gentleman from the Syrian intelligence force in civil uniform stumbled to the ground and blood was coming out of him."
In recent years, several attacks have been carried out against foreign embassies in Damascus.
In February, demonstrators protesting the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in European newspapers set fire to the Danish Embassy here. In April 2004, four people were killed in a gun battle that took place on a major road that is flanked by a large number of embassies.
And in December 1998, during a U.S. bombing campaign against Iraq, mobs assaulted U.S. and British diplomatic buildings in Damascus, and Syrian guards and U.S. Marines rescued the wife of U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker as rioters broke into the couple's residence.
Staff writer Glenn Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.
