Car Bombs and Conspiracy Theories.

Today was the second day in which a car bomb explode outside of a government building in Syria. The blast occurred in the city of Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city according to Voice of America News. The current statistics on this blast, list only two dead with thirty-plus injured. It's a large decline from yesterday's twin bombings in the city of Damascus that killed twenty-seven while injuring more than 100 people (VOA News). Al Jeezera has reported that a firefight has since broken out between rebel forces and pro-opposition forces in the city of Damascus, following the suicide bombing in Aleppo (Link).

While the government is blaming the Free Syrian Army "terrorists," the rebels deny the responsibility for the bombings saying that they do not have the means to carry out such sophisticated bombings. Even Bassma Kodmani, a member of a "Paris-based member of the opposition Syrian National Council" doubts that the rebels would have the "capacity to do such an operation to target these buildings because they are fortresses." According to Kodmani, "They are very well guarded. There is no way anyone can penetrate them without having strong support and complicity from inside the security apparatus" (Link). Thus, if Kodmani's statements are true, and these are fortresses; it would seem that the most feasible reason to this is that it was the government itself carrying out these attacks in order to gain support.

A third possibility has been thrown onto the table by the United States: According to the Voice of America article, al-Qaida may be to blame (Link). In my opinion, this possibility is definitely one that is very much "out there," when seen at face value. First, why would al-Qaida want to get involved, especially on the side of the rebels? I highly doubt that they would be able to take power, should the current regime should fall, especially given that the population is calling for a democratic society with demands for more individual freedoms; albeit the majority of the population is Sunni Muslim, which are more inclined to support al-Qaida with its extremist Sunni agenda, according to the Huffington Post (Link). Secondly, it would just add another member (in this case, at least the current government of Syria, and possibly the rebel one too) to the growing list of countries that would like to see al-Qaida elminiated. Third, and in my opinion the most important aspect of this is what proof does the U.S. have to back up this claim? Simply claiming that a third-party has entered the arena could be a very dangerous claim to make; especially since it has the possibility to just be propaganda to garner support of the American people for a Syrian intervention.