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Deadly Blasts Puncture Picture of Normalcy in 2 Syrian Cities Russians Meet With an Uncle of Assad in an Effort to Jump-Start Peace Talks
(about 4 hours later)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Deadly bombings hit the landmark Hijaz train station in the heart of Damascus and a military intelligence office in what had been a largely peaceful southeast Syrian city on Wednesday, the Syrian state news media reported, reminders that the civil war that has ravaged vast sections of the country can hit hard and without warning in areas where life remains relatively normal. BEIRUT, Lebanon — As American diplomacy on the war in Syria flounders, unable to deliver the main exile opposition group to proposed peace talks, Russian officials on Wednesday stepped up their efforts to promote alternate opposition figures, meeting in Geneva with Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of President Bashar al-Assad who was forced out of the country in 1984 after attempting to lead a coup.
SANA, the official news agency of Syria, said that women and children were among the 8 dead and 50 wounded in the Damascus blast, which the agency said had been caused by an explosive device planted near the entrance to the Hijaz train station, a graceful Ottoman-era structure that now houses the national railway authority. Other news accounts said the explosion shattered part of the station’s roof and the windows of nearby buildings, and a video of the aftermath posted on YouTube showed workers sweeping and hosing bloody splotches on the street. Siwar al-Assad, a son of Rifaat, said in a telephone interview from Geneva that his father wanted to attend the proposed peace talks, known as Geneva II, as an opposition figure whose presence would reassure government supporters and help bring about a compromise.
The bombing in Damascus came a day after a mortar shell hit the roof of the building that houses the Vatican’s Embassy there, underscoring the dangers that pervade routine life in the Syrian capital amid the ravages of a civil war that began more than two and a half years ago. He said his father did not insist that President Assad step down as a prerequisite for talks, a demand of the Western-backed exile opposition coalition that critics see as increasingly unrealistic. Attempts to set a November date for the talks have been scuttled by the persistent gulf between the government, backed by Russia and Iran, and its opponents — principally backed by the United States, France, Britain and Saudi Arabia — over who will attend and whether Mr. Assad can have a role in a transitional government.
The second bombing was in Sweida, a southern city mostly populated by the Druse, a small sect that has largely stayed out of the war, which had helped spare the city from violence. The bombing targeted the air force intelligence branch facility there, the Syrian state news media and antigovernment activists reported. “By putting preconditions, nothing will change, and every day people are dying,” Siwar al-Assad said, calling President Assad’s imminent departure “a fantasy” and adding, “I’m not pro-Bashar, but I’m a person who is realistic.”
The Syrian state news media said 34 people were killed and 41 wounded in the Sweida bombing. Al Mayadeen, a Lebanese television channel sympathetic to the Syrian government, reported 35 dead — the head of the air force intelligence branch, seven air force members and 27 civilians. Such discrepancies are not uncommon in casualty reporting from Syria. It was unclear whether other parties would accept even sitting with Rifaat al-Assad at talks, much less whether talks will take place. But the Russian move was a sign of casting about for new ways to break the impasse.
The Damascus bombing added to the many historical landmarks damaged in the violence. The Hijaz train station, which briefly served as the city’s main railway terminus and the departure point for journeys as far as Mecca in Saudi Arabia, has long drawn tourists with its towering stained-glass windows and museum of railway history. The meeting between Rifaat al-Assad and Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, drew scorn from many opponents of the president. They call Rifaat al-Assad the Butcher of Hama, a reference to his role in the bloody suppression of a violent uprising in that Syrian city in 1982. Smoldering resentments from the uprising and the crackdown help fuel the current conflict.
On a recent visit, it was deserted except for glum employees. Its main hall displayed an exhibit of photographs of railroad stations and trains destroyed in the fighting, which has forced the closure of Syria’s railway system and halted an ambitious project to reconnect the structure to the train lines and allow passengers to ride into downtown Damascus. Critics of American policy on Syria — including regional analysts, government supporters and some opponents of President Assad — say it is time for United States officials to admit that he is staying at least for the early phases of any transition, and to broaden the range of figures involved in talks. They say American officials should also reassure Syrian government and security officials whose help would be needed to end the violence that has killed more than 110,000 people and displaced nine million. “Since we’re not having much luck bringing together regime and opposition figures who count, then it probably makes sense for us to broaden our range of contacts in both camps,” said Ryan C. Crocker, a former American ambassador to Syria who is now dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.
Antigovernment activist groups reported other civil war mayhem on Wednesday including the desecration of a famous statue in Raqqa, in northeast Syria, by extremist fighters affiliated with Al Qaeda. Yet Mr. Crocker expressed doubt that the diplomatic impasse would be solved by the participation of Rifaat al-Assad, who he said is despised by both sides. The president’s supporters mistrust him for attempting to depose the president’s father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad. The president’s opponents loathe him over the Hama legacy.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group based in Britain with a network of contacts inside Syria, said the Raqqa vandals, members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, decapitated a statue that depicts male and female peasants and is known among residents as the Statue of Liberty. Raqqa is the only provincial capital in Syria that is under insurgent control. Still, the Russian overture was quietly welcomed by some Syrians. One influential Syrian, who supports the government but not Mr. Assad’s presidency, and who was in close touch with senior security and military officials, said some of them wanted to end the war but would only move toward compromise if figures like Rifaat al-Assad were involved.
The violence came a day after diplomats from the United Nations, the United States and Russia failed to set a date for a peace conference during a meeting in Geneva. Lakhdar Brahimi, the special United Nations envoy for Syria, said there would be no peace conference this month, as Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had originally hoped. “Someone is finally thinking on the right track,” said the Syrian, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Mr. Brahimi and other diplomats in Geneva still held out the hope of convening a peace conference this year, but acknowledged that the difficulties of negotiating the basic parameters might cause further delays. Siwar al-Assad said his father did not want to be president and advocated a gradual handover of power under a transition council including government and opposition members, a new constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech and of the press and an independent judiciary, and transparent elections in which anyone, including Bashar al-Assad, could run. Asked if Rifaat al-Assad expected to meet soon with American officials, Siwar al-Assad said, “maybe.”
The diplomats were unable to agree on which countries would attend such a conference, who would represent the fractious opposition and what role, if any, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria would play in any transitional government. He said he believed that behind the scenes, American officials were gradually accepting that Mr. Assad’s immediate ouster was increasingly unlikely and, with the rise of extremist jihadist groups fighting him, undesirable.
The Syria conflict began in March 2011 as a largely peaceful uprising against Mr. Assad, which his forces sought to brutally suppress, and evolved into a civil war. The conflict has left more than 110,000 dead and more than nine million people uprooted, either as refugees in neighboring countries or displaced within Syria. “The Americans want a stable Syria,” he said. “Everyone is tired of this — the Russians, the Syrians, the Americans.”
Syrian state television reported that 34 people were killed in the Sweida bombing. Al Mayadeen, a Lebanese channel that leans toward the Syrian government, reported that the dead included the head of the air force intelligence branch there, along with 7 air force members and 27 civilians. In Syria on Wednesday, bombings hit the landmark Hijaz train station in the heart of Damascus, and a military intelligence office in what had been a largely peaceful southeastern city, the Syrian state news media reported, reminders that war can hit hard in areas where life remains relatively normal.

Anne Barnard reported from Beirut, and Rick Gladstone from New York. Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut.

SANA, the official news agency of Syria, said that women and children were among the eight dead and 50 wounded in the Damascus blast, which the agency said had been caused by an explosive device planted near the entrance to the Hijaz train station, a graceful Ottoman-era structure that houses the national railway authority. Other news accounts said the explosion shattered part of the station’s roof and the windows of nearby buildings. The Hijaz train station, which briefly served as the city’s main railway terminus and has long drawn tourists with its towering stained-glass windows, is the latest of many historical landmarks damaged by violence.
The second bombing was in Sweida, a city mostly populated by the Druse, a small sect that has largely stayed out of the war, which had helped spare the city from violence. The bombing targeted the air force intelligence branch facility there, the Syrian state news media and antigovernment activists reported.
The Syrian state news media said 34 people were killed and 41 were wounded in the Sweida bombing. Al Mayadeen, a Lebanese television channel sympathetic to the Syrian government, reported 35 dead — the head of the air force intelligence branch, seven air force members and 27 civilians, while opposition activists reported three civilian deaths, discrepancies common in casualty reporting from Syria.

Hwaida Saad and Mohammad Ghannam contributed reporting from Beirut, and Rick Gladstone from New York.