Armed Islamic militants attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy in a brazen attack Tuesday, the government said. Four people were killed, including three of the assailants. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but an al-Qaida offshoot group was suspected, Syria's ambassador to the United States said.
No Americans were hurt in the attack, in which the militants used automatic rifles, hand grenades and at least one van rigged with explosives.
The al-Qaida offshoot group, called Jund al-Sham, has been blamed for several attacks in Syria in recent years, the Syrian ambassador, Imad Moustapha, said in comments to CNN.
Let's not get carried away thanking the Syrian government and remember why jihadis are in Syria.
Syria plays with fire by letting jihadis roll through Syrian territory to kill our troops in Iraq. Perhaps some got bored waiting to cross. Perhaps some think it is too dangerous to tangle with Marines and soldiers in Iraq. Perhaps some see a secular Baathist regime in Damascus as a bigger threat and want to harm Assad by embarassing him. Maybe some jihadis are upset with Syria for failing to support Hizbollah enough in Lebanon in the recent fight with Israel. Perhaps our enemies will just attack us wherever we are.
The Syrians think they control the jihadis they keep firing at us in Iraq. They do not. There is no reason for jihadis to love Assad's Baathist gang of thieves even as the jihadis take whatever help they can get from Assad. Really, have you noticed that despite the grand talk of destroying America, the jihadis usually settle for killing local Moslems who aren't quite up to the depraved standards of the jihadis?
The shots may have been fired at our embassy, but in the end the most damage will be done to Assad's regime.
UPDATE: Via Instapundit, was it a Syrian job to gain some credit with us? I tend to think that the simpler explanation is that when you let jihadis hang around and move freely, the jihadis tend to do, well, jihadi things. And he price of getting caught (remember the Lebanon caper and how that led to the Syrian army withdrawing?) would be high--though with all the attackers dead that might be a low chance.
ANOTHER UPDATE: An article on Time.com also thinks that Syria is the ultimate target:
Another way to look at it is that the Syrian regime may be reaping what it sows. Among Arab leaders, Assad is alone in his outspoken support for Islamic militant groups like Hizballah in Lebanon, and the Palestinan factions, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. U.S. officials believe that the Assad regime has secretly aided the three-year-old Sunni insurgency in Iraq, providing passage for jihad volunteers and funds, and safe haven for insurgency leaders. At the start of the war in 2003, Arab jihadists who poured into Damascus en route to Baghdad were allowed to openly line up outside the Iraqi embassy just down the road from the American embassy.
Playing the jihadi "street" card may have bought a little time for Assad in the short run, but in the long run, jihadis are far more of a threat to Assad's regime than America is.
The jihadis may well decide to hit less well protected targets inside Syria--you know, Syrian targets. Damascus is unlikely to take such attacks with much calm. It will be interesting to see if Syria can escape their Iranian hand puppet role to crack down on terrorists that Iran would just as soon see running free and killing.
