Four dead as rebels attack Damascus military building

Earlier the Syrian government said the explosions at the top military command building in Damascus has caused “only material damage”, despite rebels claiming the attack had taken dozens of victims.

But the army has since confirmed fatalities have occured in the explosions, which struck the General Staff Command Building (Hay’at al Arkan) which is one of Syria’s top military headquarters.

It said the four dead were guards and that no senior officials were hurt.

Gunfire and other smaller blasts could be heard after the explosions, as well as the sound of ambulance sirens. Many roads in the centre of the capital were blocked, residents said.

The explosions were very loud. They shook the whole city and the windows of our house were shuddering. Local resident

The explosions were heard around 7.00am (03.45 GMT), before regular working hours start in Syria.

“The explosions were very loud. They shook the whole city and the windows of our house were shuddering,” one resident reached by telephone said.

“Black smoke was seen rising from the area near the army staff building,” the resident, who declined to be named, said.

Another resident said: “I was woken up at four minutes to seven by the first loud explosion. Five or six minutes later there was a second.”

“We’re used to the sound of artillery but these were very big – bigger than usual. I can hear gunfire still,” he said, speaking an hour and a half after the blasts.

He said one of the blasts appeared to have been in the area of the General Staff Command.

He said he could see soldiers stationed on the roof of the nearby Air Force Intelligence building.

The explosions struck as world leaders met at the United Nations, where deadlock over Syria has blocked a united global response to the conflict.

A Damascus bomb attack on 18 July killed several top security officials, including Assad’s brother-in-law, the defence and interior ministers. That attack paved the way for a rebel advance into the centre of the capital, although they have since been pushed back to the outskirts.

Syria’s conflict, once a peaceful protest movement, has evolved into a civil war that the UN special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said was “extremely bad and getting worse.” He said the stalemate in the country could soon “find an opening”, without elaborating.

Activists say more than 27,000 people have been killed in the 18-month-old uprising against Assad. A quarter of a million refugees are thought to have fled the country and 2.5 million people left in need of help.