2011 Damascus bombings

On 23 December 2011, two seemingly coordinated bombings occurred in the Syrian capital of Damascus. The alleged suicide car bombs exploded outside Syrian military intelligence agency buildings, killing 44 people and injuring 166. According to Syrian state media, most of the dead were civilians. The attacks took place during the Syrian uprising. The Syrian government blamed Islamist militants, while the Syrian opposition accused the government of staging the attacks to justify its crackdown on the uprising.

On the same day as the attacks, an Arab League team of observers arrived in Syria to monitor the government's activities and push towards a solution of the nine-month uprising against the government. Officials from the visiting team later visited the sites of both explosions. Government officials escorted the team to the scene of the explosions and re-iterated their longtime claims that the uprising is not a popular one but the work of terrorists.

The bombings were in the Kfar Sousa neighbourhood, south-west of Damascus city center. The state-owned news channel, al-Ikhbariya al-Suriya, said the first car bomb exploded outside the offices of an unspecified security agency. When guards at a nearby General Security Directorate compound went to inspect the first blast, the driver of another vehicle rammed the main gates and detonated the bomb it was carrying. According to a Syrian journalist who lives in Kfar Sousa, gunfire was heard immediately following the blasts and windows up to 200 m (670 ft) away were shattered.

The bombings killed 44 people and injured 166. Syrian state media reported that most of the casualties are civilians.

Immediately, the Syrian government claimed that al-Qaeda was behind these attacks. That Syrian claim was dismissed within a day by Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird as propaganda. Also the Syrian National Council dismissed it, as Syrian attempt to stoke Western fears for Islamist and extremist elements in the Syrian uprising.