REPORT: Russian airplane shot down as Syria's premier escapes bomb attack

Russian Interfax Agency said on Monday that a Russian passenger airplane was shot down intentionally with two rockets when crossing the Syrian airspace.                   

This comes as Syria's prime minister escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy in the capital, Damascus, state media reported.              

Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the attack in Damascus' western neighborhood of Mazzeh, state TV said.                  

The TV showed footage of heavily damaged cars and debris in the area of the blast as firefighters fought to extinguish a large blaze caused by the explosion.        

A Syrian government official told The Associated Press that an improvised explosive device was placed under a car that was parked in the area and was detonated as al-Halqi's car drove by.          

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.            

The government-run Al-Ikhbariya station said al-Halqi went into a meeting with an economic committee straight after the bombing.             

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's attack.            

The attack was not the first targeting a high official in the Syrian capital over the past year.           

Massive bombings like the one that struck the prime minister's convoy have been a trademark of Islamic radicals fighting alongside the Syrian rebels, raising concerns about the extremists' role in Syria's civil war.             

Al-Halqi, a senior member of Assad's ruling Baath party, took office last year after his predecessor, Riad Hijab, defected to Jordan. Al-Halqi was Syria's health minister before taking the post. He is a member of Assad's ruling Baath party and hails from the southern city of Daraa, the birthplace of the Syrian uprising.             

On another note, a delegation from the Syrian opposition tackled the Syrian crisis in Cairo while the use of chemical weapons featured high during a meeting held between United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and head of the United Nations probe of the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria Åke Sellström.            

Sellström asserted that the probe started with the gathering of the information from western intelligence services which confirm the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.           


Positions:           

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned against the danger of using the chemical weapons issue as a pretext to topple the Syrian regime.           

"There is not always a basis for the allegations of the use of chemical weapons," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference on Monday.            

"There are probably governments and a number of external players who believe that it is fine to use any means to overthrow the Syrian regime.

But the theme of the use of weapons of mass destruction is too serious and we shouldn't joke about it. To take advantage of it (to advance) geopolitical goals is not acceptable."             

For his part, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced that France does not have "any conformations pertaining to the use of chemical weapons in Syria."                         

In this context, he asserted that France requested from the UN secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to launch a probe in Syria to reveal the truth in this regard.                 


AP/REUTERS/LBCI


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