Mortar round lands in Russian Embassy in Damascus

AMMAN, Jordan — A mortar round landed inside the Russian Embassy compound in Damascus on Sunday, state media said, as Moscow said it was willing to send military observers to secure Syrian efforts to surrender its chemical weapons to international control.

Russia is a leading backer of Syria’s President Bashar Assad and rebels fighting to topple his regime have previously targeted the diplomatic mission in Damascus with rockets and mortars.

In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the attack, saying rebels fired mortars that landed on the grounds of their embassy. Three workers were injured in the attack, the ministry said, adding that the injuries were not life-threatening. It gave no further details.

The Russian Embassy is located in Damascus’ upscale Mazraa district, which also houses several Syrian security institutions, a soccer stadium and nightclubs.

In another mortar attack outside the capital, two people were injured when shells slammed into a residential building in the suburb of Jaramana, SANA said.

The attacks come as diplomatic wrangling continues over how to collect Syria’s arsenal of chemical and biological agents to prevent any repeat of the Aug. 21 attack outside Damascus that, according to the U.S., contained chemical agents and killed more than 1,400 people, including 400 children.

Activist groups estimate the death toll of the attack that brought Washington to the brink of a military strike against Syria to be significantly lower. Assad’s government accuses rebels of using the chemical weapons.

Last week, a U.N. report confirmed the use of sarin in the August attack outside Damascus. Russia blamed the rebels, while the U.S. and its European and Arab allies said Assad’s forces were responsible.

On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow was ready to send military observers to Syria to ensure security for efforts to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons.

But the Russian official said his country is not considering sending a full military contingent.

Under a U.S.-Russian plan, Syria is to give up its chemical weapons. Security is one of the plan’s major challenges, including how to prevent theft of the weapons.

In an interview broadcast Sunday on state TV’s Channel One, Lavrov said Russia has proposed that there be an international presence on the perimeter of all areas where chemical weapons experts will work in Syria. “We are ready to share our servicemen and military police to participate in these forces,” but “it seems to me that military observers will be sufficient,” he said.

Although Russia and the U.S. worked together on the chemical weapons plan, Washington and Moscow remain at odds over several aspects of the Syrian crisis.

The United States, along with France, has sought a U.N. Security Council resolution that would authorize the use of force, if Syria reneges on the chemical weapons agreement, but Russia opposes invoking the U.N. Charter’s Chapter 7 which would allow force.

Lavrov criticized what he called “impudent” attempts by the West to include that chapter in the resolution.

The minister said the West is unable to admit that previous military interventions, such as in Iraq and Libya, led to severe problems.

“They are primarily interested in the evidence of their own superiority. And is not the task that drives us – to solve the problem of chemical weapons in Syria,” he said.

On the front lines inside Syria, anti-regime activists reported clashes between rebels and army troops in the southern province of Daraa and around the contested northern city of Aleppo. In its daily round up of the fighting, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights noted two regime air raids on the Damascus district of Jobar, an area from which rebels have been trying to storm the capital for months.

Rebels also battled Assad’s troops in opposition strongholds near the capital, including in Zamalka, eastern Ghouta, Moadamiya and Yarboud and in several areas along the southern highway leading into Damascus, the Observatory said. There were no immediate reports of casualties in Sunday’s fighting.

More than 100,000 people have been killed since the conflict started in March 2011. Millions have fled their homes, seeking shelter in safe parts of their homeland or in the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Southbound lanes on Highway 99 reopen after crash

The crash, on Highway 99 at 176th Street SW, blocked traffic for over an hour. Traffic was diverted to 168th Street SW.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Search underway to find missing Everett child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday morning at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.