Syria and Anti-Shia Terrorist Attack Just Before Ashura
Kanako Mita and Michiyo Tanabe
Modern Tokyo Times
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria seeks to build relations with Gulf powers and other nations that seek to support this beleaguered country. However, Sunni Islamist terrorist and sectarian groups – and the intrigues of NATO Turkey in the north of Syria – aren’t relenting.
Accordingly, similar to past Sunni Islamist attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, the period of Ashura for Shia Muslims is often a period of danger. Hence, 24 hours before the sacred holy day of Ashura, the Shia were targeted in a terrorist attack in the town of Assayida Zainab in the countryside of Damascus.
Syrian Arab News Agency reports, “A motorcycle was detonated near a taxi of SABA at Kou Sudan street in Sayyida Zainab.”
It was the second Sunni Islamist attack in this important week leading up to Ashura.
Voice of America reports, “Explosives planted in a taxi detonated in a Damascus suburb near a Shiite Muslim shrine Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens one day before the solemn holy day of Ashura, state media reported, citing the interior ministry.”
AFP says, “Ashura, on the tenth day of the Islamic month of Muharram, commemorates the killing of Imam Hussein at the battle of Karbala in modern-day Iraq.”
Syria needs stability and for the country to be unified under a single government. Also, economic sanctions against Syria imposed by European nations, America, and others need to be lifted because these are leading to the cycle of poverty and are mainly hitting ordinary Syrians who seek work and to survive difficult economic conditions.
Lee Jay Walker says: “The government of Syria seeks to unify the entire country by tackling various Sunni Islamist forces in the north of the country and ending the intrigues of NATO Turkey – and remaining American forces in the region – which are hindering the unity of Syria.”
The latest terrorist attack against the Shia highlights the sectarian nature of Sunni Islamists against this embattled community in several nations.
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