Blasts rock Damascus on Wednesday morning

Four blasts rocked the al-Mazzeh district in Damascus early Wednesday, followed by sporadic gunfire, witnesses and local media said. The loud explosions rattled the sprawling district and caused billowing dark smoke. The pro-government al-Ekhbaria TV speculated that the blasts were caused by mortar shells fired at the district. More details were still emerging. The neighborhood is dominated by people from the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, to which President Bashar al-Assad and the ruling elite belong. The area was hit a couple of days ago by the blast of a booby-trapped car that killed at least 11 people. On Tuesday, 15 people were killed by a spate of blasts that battered al-Wurud Square in the Damascus suburb of Qudsiah, another Alawitte dominated area.