The official Syrian statement saying terrorists had carried out a series of attacks in Damascus against the Iranian embassy, the British ambassador's house and apparently a building belonging to the United Nations was highly unusual.
It was an admission of an intelligence failure in a country that prides itself on its complete control of what happens within its territory. As it turns out, Syria's reputation for maintaining iron-clad internal security exceeds realities on the ground.
Examples of breaches in Syria's strict security system are not hard to find. For example, two days ago, Jordan announced it had thwarted a major terrorist attack that apparently would have involved chemical substances. According to reports in Jordan, al-Qaida terrorists tried to smuggle the chemicals from Syria in trucks. A few months earlier, Jordan security men stopped armed assailants who infiltrated their country from Syria.
This new series of attacks in Damascus' well-to-do Mazza area might have been carried out by non-Syrian assailants from Iraq. It isn't clear whether these terrorists belonged to one organization. The choice of targets cited - the Iranian embassy, the British ambassador's residence, the UN - did not appear to reflect any one ideological stance.
Since no organization has claimed the attacks, it can be guessed that they were reprisals for intelligence cooperation between Syrian (and perhaps Iranian) officials and Jordan. This Syrian-Jordanian cooperation contributed to the capture of the terror cell which planned the large-scale, chemical attack in Jordan.
Jordanian commentators yesterday said the attacks in Damascus were motivated by a desire to warn the Syrians against surrendering to American pressure and taking action against militant organizations.
Syria's intelligence officials now face a new challenge. Up to now, Syrian intelligence has been ruthlessly efficient in campaigns against domestic underground groups; but it is apparently less organized for tackling terror activity from outside its borders.
There are apparently some new features on the map of terror activity in the Middle East. In Arab countries, terror targets are no longer exclusively Western and UN diplomatic sites, and terror groups now appear inclined to carry out strikes in all Arab countries.