Deadly Blast Hits Jarmana As Ibrahimi Begins ME Tour

Local Editor

A deadly bombing rocked Jarmana suburb of Syria's capital on Saturday, state media said, as the international envoy to Syria was to begin a Middle East tour to push for peace talks.

Saturday morning's bomb blast struck a government-controlled suburb southeast of Damascus mainly populated by Christians and Muslim Druze, said the official SANA news agency.

It blamed the terrorist armed groups for the attack that it said left an unspecified number of people dead and wounded between Jaramana and the adjacent armed groups-held town of Mleha.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 16 soldiers were killed in the blast and clashes that followed.

This came as came as international envoy al-Akhdar Ibrahimi was to arrive in Cairo at the start of a regional tour aimed at paving the way for peace talks.
The international community hopes to convene a peace conference in Geneva next month but prospects for the talks remain unclear, with Syria's opposition divided and due to vote next week on whether to take part.

In Geneva, spokeswoman Khawla Mattar said Ibrahimi would meet in Cairo with Egypt's foreign minister as well as the head of the Arab League.

The full itinerary for the trip has not been finalized, she added, but stops in Syria and Iran are expected.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has also been pushing for the conference, will head to Europe next week for talks on Syria.
Kerry and other envoys from the so-called "Friends of Syria" group will meet the Syrian opposition in Britain on Tuesday to review progress towards convening the conference.

But the prospects for the talks remain dim, with the opposition divided on even the question of whether to attend.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team