A Syrian army officer checks the ID of a driver at a check point along a street in Damascus.
Damascus:
A mortar round hit the Russian embassy compound in Damascus on Sunday, injuring three, as Moscow accused Washington of blackmailing it to win a tough UN resolution on Syria's chemical weapons.
"On September 22 as a result of shelling by the rebels of the Damascus neighbourhood of Mazzeh, one of the shells exploded on the territory of the Russian Embassy in Syria," the Russian foreign ministry said.
"Three employees received non-life threatening injuries. Right now an investigation of the incident is under way."
The ministry added that the embassy was considering additional security measures after the attack, which is the first time the compound has been hit.
In Moscow, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lashed out at the United States.
He accused Washington of using "blackmail" to push for a tough UN resolution enshrining the deal under which Syria is turning over its chemical weapons for destruction.
The United States, Britain and France want a tough resolution that could include sanctions or use of force under the UN Charter's Chapter VII if Syria fails to implement the deal.
"Our American partners are beginning to blackmail us: if Russia won't support a resolution under Chapter VII in the UN Security Council, then we will stop the work in the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons," Lavrov told Channel One, Russian agencies said.
The Hague-based OPCW is charged with overseeing the destruction of Syria's weapons arsenal.
"Our partners are now blinded by their ideological goal of regime change (in Syria)" Lavrov said.
"All they talk about is that (President) Bashar al-Assad must leave.
"They are only interested in proving their own superiority. Not in the goal that is guiding us, to solve the problem of chemical weapons in Syria," he added.
The OPCW said Saturday it had received a complete inventory from Syria of its chemical arsenal and was scrutinising the data.
CNN later quoted a senior US administration official as saying that US officials were surprised and encouraged by the volume of information provided by Damascus.
"The official said the declaration was more complete than what the officials had expected the Syrians to put forth," CNN reported.
A tentative Saturday deadline had been set for the full accounting of Syria's arsenal under the plan which calls for its chemical weapons to be destroyed by mid-2014.
"On September 22 as a result of shelling by the rebels of the Damascus neighbourhood of Mazzeh, one of the shells exploded on the territory of the Russian Embassy in Syria," the Russian foreign ministry said.
"Three employees received non-life threatening injuries. Right now an investigation of the incident is under way."
The ministry added that the embassy was considering additional security measures after the attack, which is the first time the compound has been hit.
In Moscow, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lashed out at the United States.
He accused Washington of using "blackmail" to push for a tough UN resolution enshrining the deal under which Syria is turning over its chemical weapons for destruction.
The United States, Britain and France want a tough resolution that could include sanctions or use of force under the UN Charter's Chapter VII if Syria fails to implement the deal.
"Our American partners are beginning to blackmail us: if Russia won't support a resolution under Chapter VII in the UN Security Council, then we will stop the work in the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons," Lavrov told Channel One, Russian agencies said.
The Hague-based OPCW is charged with overseeing the destruction of Syria's weapons arsenal.
"Our partners are now blinded by their ideological goal of regime change (in Syria)" Lavrov said.
"All they talk about is that (President) Bashar al-Assad must leave.
"They are only interested in proving their own superiority. Not in the goal that is guiding us, to solve the problem of chemical weapons in Syria," he added.
The OPCW said Saturday it had received a complete inventory from Syria of its chemical arsenal and was scrutinising the data.
CNN later quoted a senior US administration official as saying that US officials were surprised and encouraged by the volume of information provided by Damascus.
"The official said the declaration was more complete than what the officials had expected the Syrians to put forth," CNN reported.
A tentative Saturday deadline had been set for the full accounting of Syria's arsenal under the plan which calls for its chemical weapons to be destroyed by mid-2014.
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