Damascus Embassy Attack

I'm a bit surprised we haven't seen this sooner than we have.

Four gunmen attacked the U.S. embassy in Damascus on Tuesday, but failed to harm any American diplomats before all four were killed, a Syrian official said.

Syrian state television said the attackers had tried to detonate a car bomb in front of the embassy but had failed.

The Syrian official said all U.S. diplomats were safe. A witness said at least one Syrian security guard had been killed by the attackers, who had been shouting religious slogans.

Interior Minister Bassam Abdel Majid told Syrian television an investigation was under way.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos confirmed there had been an attack. "We can confirm reports of an attack on our embassy in Damascus by unknown assailants. The event appears to be over," he said.

An interesting question to have answered would be whether the Syrian government had any knowledge of this? I find it unlikely, but the fact that Assad is for all intents and purposes a dictator, it's hard to balance his control of such problems and his knowledge that the US probably won't tolerate any attacks on embassies.