ISTANBUL
Abdullah al-Omar, a dissident journalist, has claimed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is afraid that Free Syrian Army, or FSA, would topple him.
Al-Omar, a former employee at Syrian Presidential Palace Information Bureau, told AA correspondent on Tuesday that the bomb attack inside the National Security headquarters in capital Damascus on July 18 for which FSA claimed the responsibility, was staged in collaboration with the Syrian Army.
Allegedly giving background information about the bomb attack, al-Omar claimed that Assad's brother Maher al-Assad was in the building during the explosion, seriously wounded and transported to Russia by a private plane for treatment.
He also added that Assad's brother in-law Deputy Defense Minister and Deputy Chief of Staff Assef Shawkat, Assad's special representative Hasan Turkmani, National Security Office Director Hisham Bakhtiyar and Defense Minister David Raciha arrived in for the meeting 10 minutes earlier and the operation took place 10 minutes earlier than planned. He said that the explosion took place when Maher Assad was climbing the stairs with Interior Minister Muhammed Shaar.
He argued that Assef Shawkat, Hasan Turkmani, Hisham Bakhtiyar and David Raciha died in blast.
''Bashar al-Assad fled to Latakia right after the bomb attack''
Alleging that the Syrian president fled to Latakia where he sees as a gateway to Russia, with the close members of his family right after the bomb attack, al-Omar also claimed that Assad is afraid that FSA would topple him as Libyan opponents toppled Qaddafi regime.
Reporting by Abdurrahman es-Sharif
