The mystery of bombs in Syria | Jihadist blowback? | The Economist

The mystery of bombs in Syria | Jihadist blowback? | The Economist: "Jihadist blowback?

Oct 2nd 2008 | CAIRO AND TRIPOLI
From The Economist print edition
No one is sure who planted the latest bombs but speculation abounds

Reuters About as clear as Syrian power-broking

BLOWBACK is what happens when a policy rebounds against its perpetrator. A much-cited example is Afghanistan, where America backed mujahideen insurgents fighting the Soviet Union, only to find them later training their sights on New York. Something similar may be happening in Syria and Lebanon, where recent bombings look likely to be the work of jihadist groups that have turned against their former patrons. Yet the irony in this case is double, because shadowy manipulators in Lebanon and Syria each hoped to turn the jihadists against the other, and because more lately both countries’ leaders have been trying to make friends.

As with much that happens in Syria, the details surrounding a car-bombing in Damascus, the capital, on September 27th are obscure. What is known is that a vehicle blew up in the early morning a few hundred metres from two buildings said to belong to Syrian intelligence. The blast killed 17 people, nearly all civilians. It was the most murderous attack in the tightly policed Baathist state since an uprising by Muslim Brothers was crushed in the 1980s."