President Assad has long blamed the unrest on outsiders, Islamists and al Qaeda. He reiterated the claim during an interview with Barbara Walters of ABC News earlier this month.

But a representative of the opposition suggested that the blasts were “very mysterious.” Omar Idilbi of the Syrian National Council, an anti-Assad coalition, noted that the bombings were “in heavily guarded areas that are difficult to be penetrated by a car. The presence of the Arab League advance team of observers pushed the regime to give this story in order to scare the committee from moving around Syria.” He said the regime wanted the Arab League and the world to believe that Syria is under attack from terrorists.

While Idlibi did not explicitly accuse the regime of planting the bombs, suspicions were widespread. “We have all sorts of suspicions that this could be organized by the regime itself,” said Basma Qadmani, the SNC spokeswoman.