BREAKING: Blasts in Damascus Around Embassies (US Embassy?) US Embassy
UPDATES 26+ BUMPED TO NEW POST ABOVE
UPDATE 25 (7:40 EST): Xinhua rips off assorted "Agencies" and then tacks there own info on the bottom about the Chinese diplomat who was hit in the crossfire (yes, it's a Chinese piracy joke... because there's a lot of piracy in China... listen, they can't all be winners):
A Chinese diplomat was slightly injured by a stray bullet while standing atop the Chinese Embassy building, Chinese officials told Xinhua. He has been sent to hospital for treatment. The Chinese Embassy is located close to the U.S. Embassy, both of which lie in the Abu Remmeneh district. The district, which houses many foreign missions, vital security installations, and the most senior Syrian government officials, has been sealed off by security guards
This is the first report we've seen on the condition of the Chinese official. One more loose end tied up. It looks like this attack failed more or less completely (shocking given the organizational acumen of these attackers, which some reports describe as being so great that they were unable to get their second car bomb to explode). Xinhua's magic number of attackers: 4 attacked / 4 killed. Not really helpful, though, since they're just getting that number from the Reuters feed.
UPDATE 24 (7:35 EST): MarketWatch files their own report, which is extensive and is filed by their guy in Tel Aviv. This is important because he seems to know about 5 times more than whoever is filing from Damascus for CNN (on the other hand, CNN is the only place we've seen put the number of attackers at five, so maybe they only need a single, poorly edited, 170ish-word report to be more right than everyone else). Anyway, MarketWatch passes on our favorite quote from this morning, which is the spokesman Syria put out front calling the attackers terrorists (plus this report actually names him!):
"A terrorist operation targeted the U.S. embassy. Security forces have brought the situation under control," the BBC online reported Interior Minister General Bassam Abdel Majid as saying on state television. He said three of the attackers were killed and one wounded. Xinhua reported that a Chinese diplomat was hit by a stray bullet during the attack and was sent to a hospital. China's embassy is near the U.S. building, the report said. Reuters reported that a Syrian security guard was killed.
Two points awarded for going so far as to track down the State Department being concerned in 2005 about "the continued presence and operational activities of international terrorist groups [in]... Syrian territory". Several thousand points taken off for using the Reuters nondenominational "attackers shouted religious slogans" line for anything but sarcasm.
UPDATE 23 (7:20 EST): Bloomberg updates with Update numero uno. Has four terrorists attacking and four terrorists killed. Which means we now have the following reports: 4 attack / 4 killed (Bloomberg, most wires), 4 attack / 3 killed (Times of India), 5 attack / 4 killed (CNN). There. You now know as much as the 19 year old Israeli kid on the Golan who's looking at the whole thing through a pair of binoculars that the IDF picked up during a Radio Shack web clearance sale.
UPDATE 22 (7:15 EST): The Times of India continues this morning's lesson on the structure of the journalism industry as a function of who uses Reuters and who uses AP, as they bump the number of attackers killed to 3, with the fouth guy being wounded and captured. Includes the line " A witness said a car belonging to the Syrian security men was seen with several bullets", which raises an intriguing conspiracy theory: what if this was the same car that witnesses identified as having Lebanese plates? And by "intriguing" we mean "totally impossible - we're not joking - totally impossible, but still fun to suggest". Still, new news: Syrian security car shot up, still no consensus on number of gunmen.
UPDATE 21 (6:58 EST): And no sooner do we get snarky then we get 'lanched. Literally within seconds. Because the universe has a sense of humor. Good morning to those of you from the East Coast. Summary: attack on the US embassy in Damascus about two hours ago. Five gunmen (minimum) set off a car bomb and then tried to storm the embassy. They don't seem to have gotten anywhere near US personnel (the embassy is run by low-level staffers anyway because we have some concerns that we'd like to discuss with the Syrian regime before restoring our ambassador), but most reports have at least one Syrian guard down. Four gunmen confirmed killed, and recent reports have a fifth gunmen being interrogated (without, we presume, the presence of council. Or anyone, really). Only other potentially interesting detail is that within about an hour a website passed on a BBC report claiming that witnesses ID'd Lebanese plates on the car. Nothing about that anywhere else. Oh, and the Syrian government spokesman called the attackers "terrorists" but Reuters and AP refuse to follow suit. The rest, as they say, is just snark.
UPDATE 20 (6:56 EST): Glenn Reynolds is awake. First post: Marty Peretz on Plame. Which gives you a precise measure of our ability to gauge what matters and what doesn't. We're like the anti-agenda setters.
UPDATE 19 (6:48 EST): One more time on this sublime Reuters lede, just because we can't get over its perfection:
Gunmen killed in U.S. embassy attack in Damascus
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Four gunmen shouting religious slogans attacked the U.S. embassy in Damascus on Tuesday, but failed to harm any American diplomats before all four were killed, a Syrian official said.
The official said all U.S. diplomats were safe. A witness said at least one Syrian security guard had been killed.
They were "gunmen" who were "shouting religious slogans". A Syrian government official is willing to speculate as to their Muslim terrorist motives, but the wires are (a) sticking with the non-offensive non-terrorist label and (b) take no notice of what religion the religious slogans were from. Could be any religion, really. Didn't Debka publish something recently about how US HUMINT has picked up a lot of fundamentalist Unitarian unrest in the region lately?
UPDATE 18 (6:45 EST): Chinese diplomat hit in the crossfire. No news being released on his/her condition. [We have now written and deleted four different Chinese-embassy jokes to close this update. We just don't have the game to make a Serbia tie-in funny. Plus, you know, shooting victim and everything means we should probably hold off. Sorry]
UPDATE 17 (6:40 EST): The current Associated Press lede is notable for two reasons:
Armed Islamic militants attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy in a bold attack Tuesday using automatic rifles, hand grenades and at least one van rigged with explosives, the government said. Syrian security forces killed three of the attackers and no Americans were hurt.
(a) It ruins what little happiness we've had this morning, all of which has been derived from speculating whether the "religious slogans" shouted by the fundamentalists who stormed the embassy were Quaker or Methodist (it's fundamentalism that's the problem blah blah blah). (b) It kick-starts what we expect will be our meager amusment for the next hour, which is tracking which main stream media organiztions will follow the lead of the Syrian government spokeman (!!) who called these gunmen "terrorists" and which will stick to the more neutral "militants" signifier for religious fanatics who try to kill civilians in order to advance a political cause.
UPDATE 16 (6:35 EST): What has two thumbs and is about to have a really bad morning? This guy:
A fifth attacker was wounded and in custody, officials said. It was not immediately clear how many total attackers may have been involved.... a State Department spokesman in Washington [said] "The event appears to be under control and handled by local authorities." There was no word of casualties among the Syrian security forces who battled the gunmen... Journalist Salma Touma told CNN that there were "lots of police, ambulances and security guards" in the area surrounding the embassy.
Most eyewitness reports say that at least one Syrian guard was down early, which should make this morning's interrogation extra fun. And speaking of eyewitness reports - who the hell is in Tel Aviv or Beirut for CNN right now? Why does the BBC have game on what country the cars' license plates are from and CNN's passing on State Department press releases that half the blogosphere has in their inbox right now? And journalist Salma Touma: (a) who? (b) no, we don't get back the 2 seconds of our life that we lost on "lots of police, ambulances and security guards" and neither do you.
UPDATE 15 (6:10 EST): YNet declares Four gunmen... killed; no diplomats hurt and bumps the story down below the arrest of a West Bank rabbi and an editorial more or less suggesting Israel should give back the Golan to Syria. Ha'aretz, on the other hand, is so excited that right now you can access their story from the frontpage in two different ways (headline: "Terror attack foiled at U.S. embassy in Damascus" and second story down: "Four assailants killed in bid to storm U.S. embassy in Syria"). This, we submit to you, is cheating.
UPDATE 14 (6:00 EST): And it's not only Bloomberg! Look who's using the T word:
Syrian minister: 'Terrorists' attacked US embassy
attack (sic) on the US embassy in the center of the Syrian capital on Tuesday was a "terrorist operation", a government minister said. "Investigations are underway to find out more details," Interior Minister Bassam Abdel Majid told Syrian Television. (Reuters)
Personally, we're offended. We don't know what these gunmen wanted or where they came from. It's inappropriate to use a loaded term like "terrorist" this early into an investigation. For instance, we don't know if they were mentally disturbed or not (cf. every jihadist attack in the US on a Jewish target in the last two years). Or what if they're a "previously unknown" "resistance organization" dedicated to ending the unjust American occupation in Damascus. This Syrian minister really ought to have to attend some CAIR sensitivity classes.
UPDATE 13 (05:45 EST): Bloomberg says three gunmen not four:
The U.S. Embassy in Damascus was attacked by terrorists today who exchanged gunfire with Syrian security forces, the U.S. State Department said. There were no American casualties. The incident is over and Syrian forces are in control of the site, the State Department said in a statement read out by a U.S. Embassy official in London. Three assailants were killed by security forces in the attack, Agence France-Presse reported, citing comments by Syria's interior minister. The blasts were in the Ain Remmeneh district, where the U.S. and several other foreign missions are located. U.K. Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford, in a telephone interview with Cable News Network, said the attack appeared to be the work of a small group and the tactics used didn't resemble those of al-Qaeda. There was a firefight lasting about 30 minutes and grenade explosions and smoke rose from near the U.S. Embassy, Colonel Julian Lyne-Pirkis, Defense Attache in the British Embassy in Damascus, said in a telephone interview.
"Terrorists" huh? Mental note: check Bloomberg's policy on "terrorist" vs. "militant" re Palestinian suicide bombings. Same article also says that there were two cars - one that exploded and one that didn't, and that Syrian sappers are working on right now.
UPDATE 12 (05:30 EST): And an hour and a half into this nonsense, finally Google News dishes up something that might make this into a story:
Damascus/London/Amman.> According to versions coming in from Syria’s capital Damascus two armed man tried to attack the US embassy in Damascus, BBC informs. The BBC correspondent in Jordan's Amman confirmed that two men in a car with a Lebanese license plates opened fire at the building of the US Embassy in Damascus. According to a policeman cited by BBC Syrian special units tried to foil the bomb attack against the US embassy. The source also said that ambulance cars and fire engines are getting nearer to the incident site.
Google News says this was posted an hour ago so the information about the number of gunmen is off. But Lebanese license plates are at least something. Now if we were from the "other" side of the blogosphere, we'd be talking about how these were Black Ops agents dropped into Lebanon by the CIA during the war with Lebanon who are now trying to fake an attack on the US embassy because Rove found out about bad polling numbers this morning. And we'd say that this has to be true because "no self-respecting terrorist would launch an attack in Syria - it just doesn't make sense". But it does make sense if you think that terrorists are lunatics bent on the establishment of a global caliphate who will target Westerners wherever they can be found. Which we do. Still, Lebanese license plates are at least something we hadn't heard yet.
UPDATE 11 (05:21 EST): It looks like The Times has original non-Reuters and non-AP coverage (or maybe the feeds we're checking haven't been updated):
A Syrian official added that none of the American diplomats inside the heavily fortified compound was hurt. Amid conflicting reports, one witness told the AP news agency that gunmen stopped a car on the street in front of the embassy at about 10am, got out of the car, shot at the Syrian sentries in front of the building’s entrance and then detonated the car. Security personnel shot back, said the witness, and security forces stationed in the area quickly rushed to the scene. In all, the incident is believed to have lasted about 20 minutes. Another witness said that he saw one man lying on the ground, but it was not clear whether he was one of the attackers or a Syrian security member.
Attacking US assets in Syria. We're dealing with the cream of the crop here.
UPDATE 10 (05:15 EST): This Reuters update is just adorable:
Four gunmen shouting religious slogans attacked the U.S. embassy in Damascus on Tuesday, but failed to harm any American diplomats before all four were killed, a Syrian official said. The official said all U.S. diplomats were safe. A witness said at least one Syrian security guard had been killed.
Oh really Reuters? And do you perchance have any information for us as to what religion those religious slogans from of? No? Oh that's too bad. Oh well, what can you do - the world's just confusing that way.
UPDATE 09 (05:05 EST): YNet channeling Reuters quotes British ambassador Peter Ford: attack does not appear to be a "major al-Qaeda-like operation, but an operation by a small group". (a) No kidding. (b) Britain is another country that has an embassy in Damascus and not Jerusalem. Nice priorities there. Actually, every country on the planet that has an embassy in Damascus does not have an embassy in Jerusalem. Good to see where Israel is on the global pecking order of the world's animus: right below the country that Lebanon bragged was openly shipping weapons to Hezbollah last February. But now we're just abusing your patience - yeah, attack on US embassy in Damascus, car bomb and gunfire, no American casualties, rumors of one Syrian casualty, unlikely to be major Al Qaeda operation. Now you're caught up.
UPDATE 08 (05:00 EST): From MR reader Dylan in Australia: "If you take away the small arms fire, this sounds similar to the bombing of the Australian embassy in Indonesia a couple of years back". Indeed it does, and we certainly hadn't made the connection. Certainly has some of the traditional fingerprints of Al Qaeda (although no other mega-attack simultaneously, which tends to lessen the idea that it came from the very top). Even an Al Qaeda in Iraq connection, however, would mean that we were wrong half an hour ago when we suggested that maybe it was fundamentalist Quakers or Methodists. Easy mistake to make - fundamentalism of any stripe is the problem.
UPDATE 07 (04:40 EST): Yeah, YNet's now updated their story (same URL as the last update) to confirm that a car bomb was exploded and that there was gunfire exchanged between Syrian forces and whoever was attacking the US Embassy.
UPDATE 06 (04:30 EST): Good old YNet, running neck and neck with JPost and CNN (see updates 1 and 2, written while you were asleep, slacker) for most useless reporting this fine morning:
One witness, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said he could not tell exactly what was happening in the Abu Rummaneh area of the Syrian capital.
OK, if that's what's getting reported we're signing off for a little while. The East Coast should be waking up in 2 or so hours, at which point we expect better from CNN than their current "The situation is quite confused," said Peter Ford, the British ambassador to Syria... Witnesses also reported hearing explosions, according to Ford Also, if their own story says that there were explosions (some wires are saying car bombs), why is the headline "Gunshots heard near U.S. Embassy in Syrian capital"?
UPDATE 05 (04:26 EST): Looks like fundamentalist Quakers attacked the US embassy in Damascus:
Explosions and gunfire erupted Tuesday near an area of Damsacus where the U.S. embassy and other foreign legations are located, witnesses reported. There were unconfirmed reports that a Syrian guard was killed in the attack, in which at least two armed men were said to have taken part. Other reports said that gunmen had apparently blew up a car outside the U.S. Embassy and exchanged fire with Syrian guards. In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it had no immediate information and was looking into news reports of the attack. The British televison station Sky News quoted unnamed sources as saying that a "terrorist plot" had been foiled at the U.S. embassy.
Actually, it might have been fundamentalist Methodists. It's not the religion that's the problem, it's fundamentalism in general. Wonder how this'll effect Hillary's election prospects - she probably can't avoid having to make a statement, given her strong Methodist roots.
UPDATE 04 (04:24 EST): Because when you wake up in the morning you'll want to know how the evening played out, here is the current status of Ha'aretz's news ticker:
11:21 Syrian official: All U.S. diplomats safe after Damascus attack (Reuters)
11:19 Syrian official: All U.S. diplomats safe after attack on embassy in Damascus (Sky News)
11:15 Employee at U.S. embassy in Syria: No apparent U.S. casualties in car bombing (AP)
UPDATE 03 (04:06 EST): Check out Ha'aretz one-up'ing JPost by not only having someone with binoculars on the Golan but also keeping the TV on:
Explosions and gunfire erupted Tuesday near an area of Damsacus where the U.S. embassy and other foreign legations are located, witnesses reported. The British televison station Sky News quoted unnamed sources as saying that a "terrorist plot" had been foiled at the U.S. embassy. Ambulances and fire engines rushed to the area after the midmorning reports of violence. "There was gunfire, explosions and quite a commotion," one witness said. "It appears that the embassy is coming under attack," a resident in the area told Reuters.
Uhhh... we don't mean to ask uncomfortable questions, but is the US really trusting Syria to protect US marines from terrorist attack? And if so, why?
UPDATE 02 (04:03 EST): JPost staff has a fuller report (because it's 10:30 in the morning in Israel, and you know that one of them has the cell phone of someone who's on the Golan right now and has a pair of binoculars):
There were initial reports of clashes at the US embassy in Damascus on Tuesday morning. Black smoke was seen rising from the building, while explosions and gunfire were heard in the area. Ambulances and fire engines were rushing to the area. Syrian security forces sealed off the compound. It was very unlikely, however, that the Syrian forces were part of what witnesses said looked like an attack on the embassy.
And just like that, the Jerusalem Post beats CNN for providing the most useless piece of information. Of course the Syrian forces didn't attack a foreign embassy. We're beginning to think that journalists don't respect their readers. Or are trying to make our brains bleed. Or both.
UPDATE 01 (04:01 EST): CNN has their red alert up: "Wire services reporting gunfire and explosions heard in diplomatic sector of Syrian captial, Damascus." Helpful of them to give us that extra geography lesson.
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Breitbart, filed 03:52 EST:
Explosions and gunfire erupted on Tuesday near an area where foreign embassies including the U.S. Embassy are located in the Syrian capital of Damascus, a witness reported. The witness, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said he could not tell exactly what was happening in the Abu Rummaneh area of the Syrian capital. The Iraqi Embassy also is in the neighborhood. But the witness said "there was gunfire, explosions and quite a commotion" in the area.
YNet posting Reuters, filed 03:30 EST:
Witnesses in Damascus reported hearing loud gunfire from the center of the Syrian capital. According to the reports, heavy smoke was seen above the United Stated Embassy. (Reuters)
Which got us thinking: the US has an embassy in Damascus? The US doesn't have an embassy in Jerusalem, and they have an embassy in Damascus?
UPDATE 25 (7:40 EST): Xinhua rips off assorted "Agencies" and then tacks there own info on the bottom about the Chinese diplomat who was hit in the crossfire (yes, it's a Chinese piracy joke... because there's a lot of piracy in China... listen, they can't all be winners):
A Chinese diplomat was slightly injured by a stray bullet while standing atop the Chinese Embassy building, Chinese officials told Xinhua. He has been sent to hospital for treatment. The Chinese Embassy is located close to the U.S. Embassy, both of which lie in the Abu Remmeneh district. The district, which houses many foreign missions, vital security installations, and the most senior Syrian government officials, has been sealed off by security guards
This is the first report we've seen on the condition of the Chinese official. One more loose end tied up. It looks like this attack failed more or less completely (shocking given the organizational acumen of these attackers, which some reports describe as being so great that they were unable to get their second car bomb to explode). Xinhua's magic number of attackers: 4 attacked / 4 killed. Not really helpful, though, since they're just getting that number from the Reuters feed.
UPDATE 24 (7:35 EST): MarketWatch files their own report, which is extensive and is filed by their guy in Tel Aviv. This is important because he seems to know about 5 times more than whoever is filing from Damascus for CNN (on the other hand, CNN is the only place we've seen put the number of attackers at five, so maybe they only need a single, poorly edited, 170ish-word report to be more right than everyone else). Anyway, MarketWatch passes on our favorite quote from this morning, which is the spokesman Syria put out front calling the attackers terrorists (plus this report actually names him!):
"A terrorist operation targeted the U.S. embassy. Security forces have brought the situation under control," the BBC online reported Interior Minister General Bassam Abdel Majid as saying on state television. He said three of the attackers were killed and one wounded. Xinhua reported that a Chinese diplomat was hit by a stray bullet during the attack and was sent to a hospital. China's embassy is near the U.S. building, the report said. Reuters reported that a Syrian security guard was killed.
Two points awarded for going so far as to track down the State Department being concerned in 2005 about "the continued presence and operational activities of international terrorist groups [in]... Syrian territory". Several thousand points taken off for using the Reuters nondenominational "attackers shouted religious slogans" line for anything but sarcasm.
UPDATE 23 (7:20 EST): Bloomberg updates with Update numero uno. Has four terrorists attacking and four terrorists killed. Which means we now have the following reports: 4 attack / 4 killed (Bloomberg, most wires), 4 attack / 3 killed (Times of India), 5 attack / 4 killed (CNN). There. You now know as much as the 19 year old Israeli kid on the Golan who's looking at the whole thing through a pair of binoculars that the IDF picked up during a Radio Shack web clearance sale.
UPDATE 22 (7:15 EST): The Times of India continues this morning's lesson on the structure of the journalism industry as a function of who uses Reuters and who uses AP, as they bump the number of attackers killed to 3, with the fouth guy being wounded and captured. Includes the line " A witness said a car belonging to the Syrian security men was seen with several bullets", which raises an intriguing conspiracy theory: what if this was the same car that witnesses identified as having Lebanese plates? And by "intriguing" we mean "totally impossible - we're not joking - totally impossible, but still fun to suggest". Still, new news: Syrian security car shot up, still no consensus on number of gunmen.
UPDATE 21 (6:58 EST): And no sooner do we get snarky then we get 'lanched. Literally within seconds. Because the universe has a sense of humor. Good morning to those of you from the East Coast. Summary: attack on the US embassy in Damascus about two hours ago. Five gunmen (minimum) set off a car bomb and then tried to storm the embassy. They don't seem to have gotten anywhere near US personnel (the embassy is run by low-level staffers anyway because we have some concerns that we'd like to discuss with the Syrian regime before restoring our ambassador), but most reports have at least one Syrian guard down. Four gunmen confirmed killed, and recent reports have a fifth gunmen being interrogated (without, we presume, the presence of council. Or anyone, really). Only other potentially interesting detail is that within about an hour a website passed on a BBC report claiming that witnesses ID'd Lebanese plates on the car. Nothing about that anywhere else. Oh, and the Syrian government spokesman called the attackers "terrorists" but Reuters and AP refuse to follow suit. The rest, as they say, is just snark.
UPDATE 20 (6:56 EST): Glenn Reynolds is awake. First post: Marty Peretz on Plame. Which gives you a precise measure of our ability to gauge what matters and what doesn't. We're like the anti-agenda setters.
UPDATE 19 (6:48 EST): One more time on this sublime Reuters lede, just because we can't get over its perfection:
Gunmen killed in U.S. embassy attack in Damascus
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Four gunmen shouting religious slogans attacked the U.S. embassy in Damascus on Tuesday, but failed to harm any American diplomats before all four were killed, a Syrian official said.
The official said all U.S. diplomats were safe. A witness said at least one Syrian security guard had been killed.
They were "gunmen" who were "shouting religious slogans". A Syrian government official is willing to speculate as to their Muslim terrorist motives, but the wires are (a) sticking with the non-offensive non-terrorist label and (b) take no notice of what religion the religious slogans were from. Could be any religion, really. Didn't Debka publish something recently about how US HUMINT has picked up a lot of fundamentalist Unitarian unrest in the region lately?
UPDATE 18 (6:45 EST): Chinese diplomat hit in the crossfire. No news being released on his/her condition. [We have now written and deleted four different Chinese-embassy jokes to close this update. We just don't have the game to make a Serbia tie-in funny. Plus, you know, shooting victim and everything means we should probably hold off. Sorry]
UPDATE 17 (6:40 EST): The current Associated Press lede is notable for two reasons:
Armed Islamic militants attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy in a bold attack Tuesday using automatic rifles, hand grenades and at least one van rigged with explosives, the government said. Syrian security forces killed three of the attackers and no Americans were hurt.
(a) It ruins what little happiness we've had this morning, all of which has been derived from speculating whether the "religious slogans" shouted by the fundamentalists who stormed the embassy were Quaker or Methodist (it's fundamentalism that's the problem blah blah blah). (b) It kick-starts what we expect will be our meager amusment for the next hour, which is tracking which main stream media organiztions will follow the lead of the Syrian government spokeman (!!) who called these gunmen "terrorists" and which will stick to the more neutral "militants" signifier for religious fanatics who try to kill civilians in order to advance a political cause.
UPDATE 16 (6:35 EST): What has two thumbs and is about to have a really bad morning? This guy:
A fifth attacker was wounded and in custody, officials said. It was not immediately clear how many total attackers may have been involved.... a State Department spokesman in Washington [said] "The event appears to be under control and handled by local authorities." There was no word of casualties among the Syrian security forces who battled the gunmen... Journalist Salma Touma told CNN that there were "lots of police, ambulances and security guards" in the area surrounding the embassy.
Most eyewitness reports say that at least one Syrian guard was down early, which should make this morning's interrogation extra fun. And speaking of eyewitness reports - who the hell is in Tel Aviv or Beirut for CNN right now? Why does the BBC have game on what country the cars' license plates are from and CNN's passing on State Department press releases that half the blogosphere has in their inbox right now? And journalist Salma Touma: (a) who? (b) no, we don't get back the 2 seconds of our life that we lost on "lots of police, ambulances and security guards" and neither do you.
UPDATE 15 (6:10 EST): YNet declares Four gunmen... killed; no diplomats hurt and bumps the story down below the arrest of a West Bank rabbi and an editorial more or less suggesting Israel should give back the Golan to Syria. Ha'aretz, on the other hand, is so excited that right now you can access their story from the frontpage in two different ways (headline: "Terror attack foiled at U.S. embassy in Damascus" and second story down: "Four assailants killed in bid to storm U.S. embassy in Syria"). This, we submit to you, is cheating.
UPDATE 14 (6:00 EST): And it's not only Bloomberg! Look who's using the T word:
Syrian minister: 'Terrorists' attacked US embassy
attack (sic) on the US embassy in the center of the Syrian capital on Tuesday was a "terrorist operation", a government minister said. "Investigations are underway to find out more details," Interior Minister Bassam Abdel Majid told Syrian Television. (Reuters)
Personally, we're offended. We don't know what these gunmen wanted or where they came from. It's inappropriate to use a loaded term like "terrorist" this early into an investigation. For instance, we don't know if they were mentally disturbed or not (cf. every jihadist attack in the US on a Jewish target in the last two years). Or what if they're a "previously unknown" "resistance organization" dedicated to ending the unjust American occupation in Damascus. This Syrian minister really ought to have to attend some CAIR sensitivity classes.
UPDATE 13 (05:45 EST): Bloomberg says three gunmen not four:
The U.S. Embassy in Damascus was attacked by terrorists today who exchanged gunfire with Syrian security forces, the U.S. State Department said. There were no American casualties. The incident is over and Syrian forces are in control of the site, the State Department said in a statement read out by a U.S. Embassy official in London. Three assailants were killed by security forces in the attack, Agence France-Presse reported, citing comments by Syria's interior minister. The blasts were in the Ain Remmeneh district, where the U.S. and several other foreign missions are located. U.K. Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford, in a telephone interview with Cable News Network, said the attack appeared to be the work of a small group and the tactics used didn't resemble those of al-Qaeda. There was a firefight lasting about 30 minutes and grenade explosions and smoke rose from near the U.S. Embassy, Colonel Julian Lyne-Pirkis, Defense Attache in the British Embassy in Damascus, said in a telephone interview.
"Terrorists" huh? Mental note: check Bloomberg's policy on "terrorist" vs. "militant" re Palestinian suicide bombings. Same article also says that there were two cars - one that exploded and one that didn't, and that Syrian sappers are working on right now.
UPDATE 12 (05:30 EST): And an hour and a half into this nonsense, finally Google News dishes up something that might make this into a story:
Damascus/London/Amman.> According to versions coming in from Syria’s capital Damascus two armed man tried to attack the US embassy in Damascus, BBC informs. The BBC correspondent in Jordan's Amman confirmed that two men in a car with a Lebanese license plates opened fire at the building of the US Embassy in Damascus. According to a policeman cited by BBC Syrian special units tried to foil the bomb attack against the US embassy. The source also said that ambulance cars and fire engines are getting nearer to the incident site.
Google News says this was posted an hour ago so the information about the number of gunmen is off. But Lebanese license plates are at least something. Now if we were from the "other" side of the blogosphere, we'd be talking about how these were Black Ops agents dropped into Lebanon by the CIA during the war with Lebanon who are now trying to fake an attack on the US embassy because Rove found out about bad polling numbers this morning. And we'd say that this has to be true because "no self-respecting terrorist would launch an attack in Syria - it just doesn't make sense". But it does make sense if you think that terrorists are lunatics bent on the establishment of a global caliphate who will target Westerners wherever they can be found. Which we do. Still, Lebanese license plates are at least something we hadn't heard yet.
UPDATE 11 (05:21 EST): It looks like The Times has original non-Reuters and non-AP coverage (or maybe the feeds we're checking haven't been updated):
A Syrian official added that none of the American diplomats inside the heavily fortified compound was hurt. Amid conflicting reports, one witness told the AP news agency that gunmen stopped a car on the street in front of the embassy at about 10am, got out of the car, shot at the Syrian sentries in front of the building’s entrance and then detonated the car. Security personnel shot back, said the witness, and security forces stationed in the area quickly rushed to the scene. In all, the incident is believed to have lasted about 20 minutes. Another witness said that he saw one man lying on the ground, but it was not clear whether he was one of the attackers or a Syrian security member.
Attacking US assets in Syria. We're dealing with the cream of the crop here.
UPDATE 10 (05:15 EST): This Reuters update is just adorable:
Four gunmen shouting religious slogans attacked the U.S. embassy in Damascus on Tuesday, but failed to harm any American diplomats before all four were killed, a Syrian official said. The official said all U.S. diplomats were safe. A witness said at least one Syrian security guard had been killed.
Oh really Reuters? And do you perchance have any information for us as to what religion those religious slogans from of? No? Oh that's too bad. Oh well, what can you do - the world's just confusing that way.
UPDATE 09 (05:05 EST): YNet channeling Reuters quotes British ambassador Peter Ford: attack does not appear to be a "major al-Qaeda-like operation, but an operation by a small group". (a) No kidding. (b) Britain is another country that has an embassy in Damascus and not Jerusalem. Nice priorities there. Actually, every country on the planet that has an embassy in Damascus does not have an embassy in Jerusalem. Good to see where Israel is on the global pecking order of the world's animus: right below the country that Lebanon bragged was openly shipping weapons to Hezbollah last February. But now we're just abusing your patience - yeah, attack on US embassy in Damascus, car bomb and gunfire, no American casualties, rumors of one Syrian casualty, unlikely to be major Al Qaeda operation. Now you're caught up.
UPDATE 08 (05:00 EST): From MR reader Dylan in Australia: "If you take away the small arms fire, this sounds similar to the bombing of the Australian embassy in Indonesia a couple of years back". Indeed it does, and we certainly hadn't made the connection. Certainly has some of the traditional fingerprints of Al Qaeda (although no other mega-attack simultaneously, which tends to lessen the idea that it came from the very top). Even an Al Qaeda in Iraq connection, however, would mean that we were wrong half an hour ago when we suggested that maybe it was fundamentalist Quakers or Methodists. Easy mistake to make - fundamentalism of any stripe is the problem.
UPDATE 07 (04:40 EST): Yeah, YNet's now updated their story (same URL as the last update) to confirm that a car bomb was exploded and that there was gunfire exchanged between Syrian forces and whoever was attacking the US Embassy.
UPDATE 06 (04:30 EST): Good old YNet, running neck and neck with JPost and CNN (see updates 1 and 2, written while you were asleep, slacker) for most useless reporting this fine morning:
One witness, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said he could not tell exactly what was happening in the Abu Rummaneh area of the Syrian capital.
OK, if that's what's getting reported we're signing off for a little while. The East Coast should be waking up in 2 or so hours, at which point we expect better from CNN than their current "The situation is quite confused," said Peter Ford, the British ambassador to Syria... Witnesses also reported hearing explosions, according to Ford Also, if their own story says that there were explosions (some wires are saying car bombs), why is the headline "Gunshots heard near U.S. Embassy in Syrian capital"?
UPDATE 05 (04:26 EST): Looks like fundamentalist Quakers attacked the US embassy in Damascus:
Explosions and gunfire erupted Tuesday near an area of Damsacus where the U.S. embassy and other foreign legations are located, witnesses reported. There were unconfirmed reports that a Syrian guard was killed in the attack, in which at least two armed men were said to have taken part. Other reports said that gunmen had apparently blew up a car outside the U.S. Embassy and exchanged fire with Syrian guards. In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it had no immediate information and was looking into news reports of the attack. The British televison station Sky News quoted unnamed sources as saying that a "terrorist plot" had been foiled at the U.S. embassy.
Actually, it might have been fundamentalist Methodists. It's not the religion that's the problem, it's fundamentalism in general. Wonder how this'll effect Hillary's election prospects - she probably can't avoid having to make a statement, given her strong Methodist roots.
UPDATE 04 (04:24 EST): Because when you wake up in the morning you'll want to know how the evening played out, here is the current status of Ha'aretz's news ticker:
11:21 Syrian official: All U.S. diplomats safe after Damascus attack (Reuters)
11:19 Syrian official: All U.S. diplomats safe after attack on embassy in Damascus (Sky News)
11:15 Employee at U.S. embassy in Syria: No apparent U.S. casualties in car bombing (AP)
UPDATE 03 (04:06 EST): Check out Ha'aretz one-up'ing JPost by not only having someone with binoculars on the Golan but also keeping the TV on:
Explosions and gunfire erupted Tuesday near an area of Damsacus where the U.S. embassy and other foreign legations are located, witnesses reported. The British televison station Sky News quoted unnamed sources as saying that a "terrorist plot" had been foiled at the U.S. embassy. Ambulances and fire engines rushed to the area after the midmorning reports of violence. "There was gunfire, explosions and quite a commotion," one witness said. "It appears that the embassy is coming under attack," a resident in the area told Reuters.
Uhhh... we don't mean to ask uncomfortable questions, but is the US really trusting Syria to protect US marines from terrorist attack? And if so, why?
UPDATE 02 (04:03 EST): JPost staff has a fuller report (because it's 10:30 in the morning in Israel, and you know that one of them has the cell phone of someone who's on the Golan right now and has a pair of binoculars):
There were initial reports of clashes at the US embassy in Damascus on Tuesday morning. Black smoke was seen rising from the building, while explosions and gunfire were heard in the area. Ambulances and fire engines were rushing to the area. Syrian security forces sealed off the compound. It was very unlikely, however, that the Syrian forces were part of what witnesses said looked like an attack on the embassy.
And just like that, the Jerusalem Post beats CNN for providing the most useless piece of information. Of course the Syrian forces didn't attack a foreign embassy. We're beginning to think that journalists don't respect their readers. Or are trying to make our brains bleed. Or both.
UPDATE 01 (04:01 EST): CNN has their red alert up: "Wire services reporting gunfire and explosions heard in diplomatic sector of Syrian captial, Damascus." Helpful of them to give us that extra geography lesson.
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Breitbart, filed 03:52 EST:
Explosions and gunfire erupted on Tuesday near an area where foreign embassies including the U.S. Embassy are located in the Syrian capital of Damascus, a witness reported. The witness, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said he could not tell exactly what was happening in the Abu Rummaneh area of the Syrian capital. The Iraqi Embassy also is in the neighborhood. But the witness said "there was gunfire, explosions and quite a commotion" in the area.
YNet posting Reuters, filed 03:30 EST:
Witnesses in Damascus reported hearing loud gunfire from the center of the Syrian capital. According to the reports, heavy smoke was seen above the United Stated Embassy. (Reuters)
Which got us thinking: the US has an embassy in Damascus? The US doesn't have an embassy in Jerusalem, and they have an embassy in Damascus?
