Syria conflict: 'Huge explosion' rocks Damascus airport

[nitpicker]

Source: BBC

Syria conflict: 'Huge explosion' rocks Damascus airport

8 minutes ago

From the section Middle East
A large explosion has hit an area near Damascus international airport, a monitoring group says. "The blast was huge and could be heard in Damascus," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The airport lies about 25 km (15 miles) south-east of Syria's capital. The explosion was reportedly followed by a large fire. There are no reports of any casualties. The cause of the blast on Thursday is unclear.

Al-Manar TV, run by Lebanon's Shia militant movement Hezbollah, reports that the explosion may have been caused by an Israeli air strike. It said it had only caused material damage.
(snip)


Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39728682

[bathroommonkey76]

1. It was Israel

Israel bombed a warehouse near Damascus International Airport Thursday that it believed to be an Iranian arms depot operated by the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.

The dawn strike hit an arms cache where a significant amount of weapons are sent from Tehran by commercial and military cargo planes, Reuters reported, citing a regional intelligence source.

The depot is reportedly a major hub for a range of Iranian-backed militias including Hezbollah, that are fighting in support of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. The Lebanese paramilitary group has deployed thousands of its fighters to Syria to back the Assad regime during the course of the country’s six-year civil war.

http://www.newsweek.com/israeli-strike-hits-iranian-arms-depot-near-damascus-airport-causing-huge-590607

[hack89]

2. Good. nt

[Rustyeye77]

3. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights ?

[hack89]

4. They appear to have a reputation for accuracy.

The United Nations, newspaper and nongovernmental organizations state that SOHR is an accurate source. "Generally, the information on the killings of civilians is very good, definitely one of the best, including the details on the conditions in which people were supposedly killed," said Neil Sammonds, a British researcher for London-based Amnesty International

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Observatory_for_Human_Rights

[oberliner]

5. Actually the article linked to by that Wikipedia page for that citation says its a "one man band"

Based in England.

COVENTRY, England — Military analysts in Washington follow its body counts of Syrian and rebel soldiers to gauge the course of the war. The United Nations and human rights organizations scour its descriptions of civilian killings for evidence in possible war crimes trials. Major news organizations, including this one, cite its casualty figures.

Yet, despite its central role in the savage civil war, the grandly named Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is virtually a one-man band. Its founder, Rami Abdul Rahman, 42, who fled Syria 13 years ago, operates out of a semidetached red-brick house on an ordinary residential street in this drab industrial city.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/world/middleeast/the-man-behind-the-casualty-figures-in-syria.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[hack89]

6. Who appears to have sufficient contacts in Syria to generate accurate reports.

Do you have any real reason to doubt the OP?