MOSCOW, December 23 (Itar-Tass) —— Moscow hopes that the monitors of the League of Arab States (LAS) will express an unbiased opinion about the terror act in Damascus, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
Two car bombs were blasted near the headquarters of the Syrian state security department and the regional intelligence department in the morning. Forty people died and about 150 were hurt. There are some military men amongst the killed, but the majority of the victims are civilians.
“According to the Russian embassy in Syria, Russians were not hurt in the explosions,” the ministry said.
Moscow presented its profound condolences to the families of the dead and sympathy with the injured and their families and “strongly condemned the barbarian terror attack, which claimed many innocent lives.”
“We have to state that extremist forces, which reject inter-Syrian settlement through a national dialog involving the authorities and the opposition, stake on confrontations and armed provocations against state institutions and the civilian population, including women and children, in the attainment of their goals,” the ministry said.
“Russia hopes that the LAS monitors, who arrived in Damascus yesterday in fulfillment of the Arab initiative for the settlement of the Syrian internal crisis, will give an unbiased evaluation of this tragic event,” it said.
“We once again reaffirm our support to the soonest end of violence in Syria, not matter where it comes from. We think that the Syrians must reach accord on the future of their country and ways to settle pressing political, economic and social problems on their own,” the ministry said.