Syria criticise Beirut blasts

Syria has strongly condemned a double bomb blast outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut on Tuesday that killed at least 23 people, official media reported. "The Syrian government firmly condemns the terrorist attack carried out near the Iranian embassy in Beirut," state television said. It said an "odor of petrodollars comes from all the terrorist acts against Syria, Lebanon and Iraq," an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which back the Syrian uprising. At least 23 people were killed and 150 wounded in the blasts in the Hizbullah stronghold of Bir Hassan. The powerful explosions just opposite the multi-storey embassy caused chaos, ripping the facades off nearby buildings and setting cars ablaze. They come after two other bomb attacks this year in the southern suburbs of Beirut that are the bastion of Hizbullah. The group, which is sponsored by Iran, has drawn controversy for sending thousands of fighters to support the regime of Syria's President Bashar Assad as he battles a 32-month-old uprising.