DAMASCUS: Syria said Sunday the deadly bombings in Damascus aimed to wreck political efforts to resolve its crisis, as UN experts readied to join a government-led humanitarian mission to devastated protest hubs.
"Yesterday's explosions were carried out by terrorists supported by foreign powers which finance and arm them," charged Al-Baath newspaper, mouthpiece of Syria's ruling party of the same name.
"The two attacks... aim to disrupt Annan's mission and to foil international efforts to find a political solution to the crisis," it said, referring to UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan.
The twin blasts, apparent car bombings, killed 27 people and wounded 140 others in the heart of Syria's capital on Saturday, the interior ministry said, blaming "terrorists" for the attacks near police and air force headquarters.
A rally and prayers were being held on Sunday at the site of the biggest explosion, in the Al-Qasaa district that is home to many members of Syria's minority Christian community.
State television on Saturday showed how the blast had totally gutted the facade of a multi-storey building, wrecked family homes and left behind blood-splattered pavements.
Opposition activists accused the regime, as in past lethal bombings in the capital and the northern city of Aleppo, of having stage-managed the attacks.
Ath-Thawra, another official daily, pointed the finger at Qatar and Saudi Arabia which have called for rebels fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to be armed.
"The terrorism of Hamad and Saud is not a first. We know their blood-stained hatred, born of jealousy... We have heard their call, and their incitement," it said, referring to the Saudi and Qatari ruling families.
Technical experts from the United Nations and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), meanwhile, were to take part in a mission to assess the humanitarian impact of the crackdown on anti-regime protests since March 2011.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, who held talks in Damascus earlier this month, said the experts would join the assessment mission to Daraa, Homs, Hama, Tartus, Latakia, Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and rural zones around Damascus.
The UN and OIC staff would "accompany the mission and take the opportunity to gather information on the overall humanitarian situation and observe first-hand the conditions in various towns and cities," she said.
Activists, meanwhile, said security forces mounted operations Sunday in Idlib, northwest Syria, Aleppo in the north, the east's Deir Ezzor region and Daraa in the south, birthplace of the anti-Assad revolt.
The United Nations estimates more than 30,000 Syrians have fled to neighbouring states and another 200,000 have been displaced within the country by the past 12 months of deadly violence.
Also on Saturday, two "terrorists" were killed as a booby-trapped car they were driving blew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in a suburb of Damascus, Syria's state news agency SANA reported.
On Friday, international envoy Annan warned of a regional "escalation" of the Syria conflict which activists says has cost more than 9,100 lives and urged the UN Security Council to close ranks to put pressure on Assad.
The former United Nations chief, who met Assad in Damascus last weekend, has ordered a team of experts to Syria to discuss a possible ceasefire and international monitoring mission, his spokesman said.
Annan's team are to head to Damascus from New York and Geneva on Monday, his spokesman said.
Also in the press on Sunday, a daily close to the regime said the Damascus blasts showed why Gulf Arabs -- on the grounds of a protest at Syria's crackdown on dissent -- had closed their embassies in Damascus earlier in the week.
"This could be the sign of a new period in Syria, one of explosions and terrorism sent by the emirs of the Gulf. They have been making threats, and yesterday they carried them out it," Al-Watan said.
It said the authorities should be "ruthless" with "any opposition which calls for outside intervention" in Syria's crisis, referring to the slogan of widespread protests across the country on Friday.
"Demonstrations are unacceptable, even peaceful protests, if they do not have authorisation from the interior ministry," the paper said. "It is now time for law, for security. Those who want to destabilise Syria... should pay the price."
Al-Watan warned of an even tougher response from the authorities.
In the wake of the Damascus bombings, "this is no longer the time for philosophising, for struggle, for Facebook... and especially not for protests which only go to serve the enemies of Syria," it said.
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