Hezbollah implicates 'powers' in Damascus carnage

The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement has denounced a twin bombing in Damascus on Saturday, calling for a unified stance against different terrorist groups operating in the region.

"This heinous crime that targeted peaceful Muslims is an indication of the terrorists' remoteness from [religion] and taking up a Takfiri doctrine under the pretext of religion and the killing of believers everywhere,” Hezbollah said in a statement.  

The statement came hours after the bombs ripped through buses carrying Shia pilgrims in an area near the Bab al-Saghir cemetery between the Damascus neighborhoods of Shaghour and Bab Musalla. Witnesses said the second bomb exploded when people had gathered at the scene of the first attack.

The pilgrims were expected to pray at the cemetery after visiting the shrine of Sayeda Zeinab, the granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) outside Damascus, reports said.

"The terrorist mobs that have various names and affiliations are the result of an ideology based on the rejection of others [as] disbelievers and exterminating them ... which contradicts all divine teachings and laws and morals,” Hezbollah said.

It also urged joint efforts to "eradicate” terrorists, saying they “are being used by international and regional powers to implement hellish projects aimed at fragmenting the region and eliminating the resistance (Hezbollah)."