Chinese embassy in Syria under threat of rebel attacks
Staff Reporter 2013-09-10 11:20
Zhang Xun speaks at an event at the Chinese embassy in Damascus to celebrate Chinese New Year in January 2012. (Photo/Xinhua)
Zhang Xun, China's ambassador in Damascus, recently told the state-run Global Times that the country's diplomats in Syria are working under dangerous conditions as local rebels are targeting the embassy.
Zhang said that shrapnel from a mortar attack hit the embassy and showed three fragments of the mortal shell to a reporter from China's Global Times on Sept. 4. The ambassador said that the shell first hit a tree only 10 meters away from the embassy and the fragments "bounced into our building," adding that the risks for collateral damage are high.
The most dangerous attacks usually take place during the visits of Chinese diplomats to various government buildings within Damascus including the presidential palace, ministry of defense, ministry of foreign affairs and the headquarters of the ruling Ba'ath Party. During one of Zhang's meeting with the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, they were attacked by a sniper through the window of the building. Zhang said the minister was almost hit by the bullet.
The rebels are particularly hostile toward China due to its continuing support for the Assad regime. According to a brigade commander of the Free Syrian Army, rebels will launch a full scale attack against the Chinese embassy. Zhang Xun and other diplomats working in the war-torn country say it is a miracle that none of the 2,000 Chinese nationals previously in Syria before a low-key evacuation drive were killed.
Unlike the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq, Chinese investment in Syria is considerable, Zhang said. For this reason, it is extremely difficult for Beijing to call for an all-out evacuation of its nationals from the country. However, the majority of non-essential workers have been evacuated successfully and quietly. The Global Times reports that there are now no more than 20 Chinese nationals in Syria.
Realizing the possibility that rebels may overrun the embassy, Beijing has sent a security detachment consisting of eight armed police officers to protect the diplomats.
Earlier this year, Syrian authorities found that a local driver hired by the embassy went to Jordan in February and was recruited by the Syrian opposition. The driver was later arrested by the Syrian authorities and confessed that he had planned to plant a bomb under one of the vehicles owned by the embassy.
Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, fighting between government forces and rebels has killed more 100,000 and created 2 million refuges. In its report, the Global Times expressed thanks to those involved in the safe evacuation of Chinese nationals from the war zone.
