Regardless of the intentions of those who perpetrated the explosions in Damascus yesterday, or the side to which they belong, what they did is an undeniable crime. Indeed, the blind killing of civilians in a crowded street, even if the target is a military checkpoint, or a security or partisan post affiliated with a bloody regime such as Bashar al-Assad's, cannot be defended. Let us move away from the logistic explanations which might emerge to justify this act, such as “the value of the target pushed the perpetrators to agree to sacrifice a few civilians who will be considered as martyrs" as it was said in previous incidents, or what is said in jurisprudence in regard to shielding oneself by use of innocent people if the combatant is forced to do so in his fight against the transgressing faction. This is pure sophistry and extremism. What is happening at the level of the Syrian revolution is that armed sides are killing innocent people – regardless of whether this is done out of conviction or because they were infiltrated by the regime apparatuses – to boast their ability to carry out explosions in sensitive areas in Damascus. In reality, the situation along the revolution front, which is already unrestrained, is witnessing the emergence of some sort of political nihilism, aiming to cause the greatest possible damage to Al-Assad's regime even if the final outcome is in its favor. We have seen such practices through a number of explosions, reaching their peak in a peaceful city where dozens of civilians fell, although its population expressed its support of the revolution since the beginning. This was due to the fact that those who placed the explosions were able to reach state-owned factories. This nihilism is concealing despicable adolescence and acute deficiency in envisioning the future of Syria following Bashar al-Assad's collapse. Those perpetrating these crimes – and once again we say that it is regardless of their identity – cannot relinquish the tools they have been adopting and have been serving them on the political level. This was seen in many previous situations, whether revolutions or civil wars, in which the bomb detonators and those standing behind the booby-trapped cars continued to carry out their acts, even after they achieved their alleged goal. As for the arguments saying that the regime, which is bombarding residential areas with Scud missiles and dropping explosive barrels on bakeries and field hospitals, is the one responsible for the blind killing through booby-trapped cars and mobile suicide-bombers roaming the streets and school areas. They are repugnant, considering that one of the first goals for which the Syrian revolution erupted was to put an end to this dual rhetoric which combines verbal support to all the higher causes, and efforts to strip these of their content and meaning. This was seen for example with the adoption of the resistance and the killing of the resistance fighters, and the promotion of the “workers and farmers' rights" slogan while undermining society and unleashing the parasitical gangs of pillaging against the citizens, starting with the poorest among them. In that sense, the values of the perpetrators of the explosions converge with those of the ruling regime and its entourage. Hence, the cliché saying that the end justifies the means, which is widely spread in the ranks of Al-Assad's supporters, from the small murderers in the intelligence apparatuses' basements to the political command and media outlets, has undoubtedly found its way to the ranks of some sides in the revolution (putting aside the context in which this expression surfaced before turning into a motto for the thieves and criminals in politics and other sectors). There is no excuse for those placing explosives among the civilians as these acts are strengthening the regime, whether they were directly carried out by its apparatuses, or it found someone to do it this dangerous favor.
