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At least 60 killed in terror attack at Shi'ite holy site in Syria
Not content that Russia was concentrating its deadly efforts first on Assad's smaller and less successful foes, and only incidentally destroying oil transport trucks, etc., ISIS demands Russia turn its full attention in their direction.
[Ynet] Car bomb and two jacket wallahs explode near grave of the holy Zaynab, the daughter of the Imam Ali, where Hezbollah and other Shi'ite militias gather; ISIS claims responsibility for attack.

At least 60 people were killed and dozens maimed on Sunday in a terror attack at a southern district of Damascus where Syria's holiest Shi'ite shrine is located.

There were three kabooms near the Tomb of the holy Zaynab, the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Taleb, the cousin of Prophet Mohammed whom Shi'ites consider the rightful successor to the prophet. The dispute over the succession led to the major Sunni-Shi'ite schism in Islam.

The heavily populated area is a site of pilgrimage for Shi'ites from Iran, Leb and other parts of the Muslim world.

A Syrian Interior Minister official told the state news agency SANA that a boom-mobile first went off at a bus terminal, and two suicide bombers then blew up among the people who gathered to help the maimed.

The Sayeda Zaynab shrine area witnessed heavy festivities in the first few years of the conflict, which began in 2011, but has since been secured by the Syrian army and Shi'ite militias led by Hezbollah, which has set up protective roadblocks around it.

In addition to being an important religious site for Shi'ites, the site of the attack has become a point of gathering for Hezbollah fighters and fighters from other Shi'ite militias who are fighting alongside the Assad regime in Syria.

The Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
organization grabbed credit for the attack. The Amaq news agency, associated with ISIS, said the group committed the attacks in order to hurt the most important stronghold of the Shi'ite militias in Damascus.
TheTimes of Israel earlier reported the number of dead at 45 with 110 wounded, and added:
An AFP photographer at the scene said the blasts caused massive damage, shattering windows and ripping a huge crater in the road. Smoke rose from the twisted carcasses of more than a dozen cars and a bus damaged in the blasts, as ambulances ferried away the maimed and firefighters worked to put out blazes started by the bombings.

The area around the shrine is heavily secured with regime checkpoints set up hundreds of metres away to prevent vehicles from getting close to Sayyida Zeinab.
Posted by: trailing wife 2016-01-31
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=443842