Attack on U.S. Embassy

last updated 8 January 2015

Damascus

Syrian forces repelled an attack by four Islamic militants against the U.S. Embassy in Damascus this week. After their effort to detonate a car bomb failed, the men hurled grenades and fired machine guns at the building. Syrian forces killed three of the attackers and captured the fourth. No Americans were hurt. Britain’s ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford, said the attack did not appear to be a “major al Qaida–like operation, but an operation by a small group.” The U.S. has only a limited diplomatic mission in Syria. It recalled the American ambassador after the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. A U.N. investigation implicated Syrian officials in the killing.