BEIRUT, Lebanon — A powerful car
bomb exploded in the southern
suburbs of Beirut on Thursday
afternoon, ravaging a mixed
neighborhood populated by many
supporters of Hezbollah, the
Lebanese Shiite militia and political
party. It appeared to be the latest in
a series of bombings over the civil
war in neighboring Syria, where
Hezbollah has sent fighters to aid
government forces and its opponents
support the insurgency.
Lebanese television showed scenes of
chaos in a residential area, with
smoke rising above charred cars,
crowds of people pushing past one
another and ambulances and fire
trucks arriving. The state-run
National News Agency said at least
four people were killed and more
than 70 wounded. Other Lebanese
media put the death toll at six.
The Lebanese army said the source
of the blast appeared to have been
more than 40 pounds of explosives
packed in a dark green Jeep
Cherokee. The National News Agency
said human remains had been found
in a car near the blast site but that
the authorities had not determined
whether they belonged to a suicide
bomber.
The blast came six days after a car
bomb killed a prominent member of
the Future bloc, the Sunni party that
is Hezbollah’s main political rival.
And it came a day after reports
surfaced of the arrest by Lebanese
authorities of a Saudi militant who
leads the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a
group affiliated with Al Qaeda that
claimed responsibility for a
November suicide bombing at the
Iranian Embassy in Beirut. Iran is an
ally of Hezbollah.
The recent bombings, which have
primarily killed civilians and instilled
fear across Lebanon, are part of a
string of escalating attacks in recent
months related to the nearly three-
year-old conflict in Syria, which has
deepened Lebanon’s pre-existing
political and sectarian divisions.
Hezbollah’s fighters have been
helping the Syrian army, and the
Future bloc endorses the insurgency,
which Lebanese Sunni militants have
crossed the border to join.
Fearing more indiscriminate violence
and a further unraveling in Lebanon,
leaders of the divergent factions in
the country’s complex politics rushed
to condemn the latest bombing, even
those who want Hezbollah out of
Syria. The March 14th coalition, of
which the Future bloc is the largest
party, said in a statement that each
victim was “a martyr mourned by all
Lebanese.” The March 14 leader,
Saad Hariri, the former prime
minister, said “the terrorism that is
targeting civilians, innocents and
civilian areas is criminal behavior.”
In a video statement last week, a
cleric acting as a spokesman for the
Abdullah Azzam Brigades declared
that the group would not stop its
bombings until Hezbollah withdraws
its fighters from Syria and Lebanese
authorities release youths imprisoned
for militant activities. Lebanese
officials had expressed concern after
the arrest of the group’s leader,
Majid al-Majid, about the possibility
of retaliatory attacks.
Areas in Beirut’s southern suburbs,
where Hezbollah maintains its
headquarters among residents who
are mainly Shiite but include Sunni
Palestinians, Christians and others,
have been hit twice in the past year,
first in July, in a bombing that
wounded many but caused no
reported deaths, then in August,
when a bomb killed at least 18
people and wounded hundreds. The
August attack was closely followed by
two attacks on Sunni mosques in the
northern city of Tripoli that killed
dozens.
Threats have multiplied against
Hezbollah and its followers from
supporters of the Syrian insurgency
who are incensed that Hezbollah has
sent fighters to support the Syrian
government.
While the Future bloc officially
disavows the use of violence, some of
its leaders have been involved in
funneling arms to Syrian rebels, and
some of its constituents have become
radicalized, following hard-line Sunni
clerics who have called for attacks on
Hezbollah. And insurgents from
Syria, including foreign jihadists as
well as Syrians, have increasingly
penetrated the porous border into
Lebanon. In recent weeks some
groups have said in interviews and
video statements that they plan to
escalate attacks on Hezbollah
interests in Lebanon.
In an interview last month, a rebel
commander said that some insurgent
groups had already arrived in
Lebanon from Syria. “They want to
attack all the regime’s allies in
Lebanon,” the commander said,
asking not to be identified by name
for protection from reprisals.
“Lebanon became their arena.”
In another recent interview, a Syrian
anti-government activist reached in
Aleppo, the embattled city in
northern Syria, said that 125 fighters
were preparing to leave the city to
launch attacks in Hezbollah’s
heartland in southern Lebanon,
including some fighters from the two
most radical rebel groups, the Qaeda-
linked Nusra Front and the even
more extremist Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria. The Aleppo activist, who
said he was not involved with either
group, spoke on the condition of
anonymity for fear of retribution.
Also last month, a group calling itself
Mujahedeen of the Land of Sham, a
reference to greater Syria, circulated
a YouTube video showing masked
youths undergoing military training.
One fighter read a statement saying
that the group planned to shell what
it called “Hezbollah strongholds” in
the towns of Nubol and Zahra,
predominantly Shiite villages in
Aleppo province. The video, which
has since been removed by YouTube
as a violation of its policy on violence,
also said the group’s attacks on
Hezbollah members would be aimed
at “making their day night and their
night day.”
Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah,
has said in speeches that the group is
fighting in Syria to thwart takfiris, a
disparaging reference to Sunni
extremists who brand their
opponents as infidels. Mr. Nasrallah
has called them a threat not just to
Shiites but to the entire region.
The bombings are seen by supporters
and critics of Hezbollah as targeting
civilians to put pressure on Hezbollah
over its Syria policy. But Hezbollah’s
political base seems deeply
committed, and its fighters exhibit a
soldier-like discipline in going where
ordered. Still, the bombings have led
to new security measures in the
southern suburbs and left the group’s
supporters, as well as Shiites not
affiliated with the party, feeling
increasingly at risk.
Randa Slim, a Lebanese analyst at the
Middle East Institute, has said that
the recent string of attacks on
Hezbollah interests and civilians in
areas it controls has strengthened a
view among some of Lebanon’s
Shiites, that “the fight in Syria is
making the party and the community
vulnerable and less protected at a
time when the community feels itself
targeted by a number of domestic
and regional enemies.”
Mohammad Ghannam and Hwaida
Saad contributed reporting.
bomb exploded in the southern
suburbs of Beirut on Thursday
afternoon, ravaging a mixed
neighborhood populated by many
supporters of Hezbollah, the
Lebanese Shiite militia and political
party. It appeared to be the latest in
a series of bombings over the civil
war in neighboring Syria, where
Hezbollah has sent fighters to aid
government forces and its opponents
support the insurgency.
Lebanese television showed scenes of
chaos in a residential area, with
smoke rising above charred cars,
crowds of people pushing past one
another and ambulances and fire
trucks arriving. The state-run
National News Agency said at least
four people were killed and more
than 70 wounded. Other Lebanese
media put the death toll at six.
The Lebanese army said the source
of the blast appeared to have been
more than 40 pounds of explosives
packed in a dark green Jeep
Cherokee. The National News Agency
said human remains had been found
in a car near the blast site but that
the authorities had not determined
whether they belonged to a suicide
bomber.
The blast came six days after a car
bomb killed a prominent member of
the Future bloc, the Sunni party that
is Hezbollah’s main political rival.
And it came a day after reports
surfaced of the arrest by Lebanese
authorities of a Saudi militant who
leads the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a
group affiliated with Al Qaeda that
claimed responsibility for a
November suicide bombing at the
Iranian Embassy in Beirut. Iran is an
ally of Hezbollah.
The recent bombings, which have
primarily killed civilians and instilled
fear across Lebanon, are part of a
string of escalating attacks in recent
months related to the nearly three-
year-old conflict in Syria, which has
deepened Lebanon’s pre-existing
political and sectarian divisions.
Hezbollah’s fighters have been
helping the Syrian army, and the
Future bloc endorses the insurgency,
which Lebanese Sunni militants have
crossed the border to join.
Fearing more indiscriminate violence
and a further unraveling in Lebanon,
leaders of the divergent factions in
the country’s complex politics rushed
to condemn the latest bombing, even
those who want Hezbollah out of
Syria. The March 14th coalition, of
which the Future bloc is the largest
party, said in a statement that each
victim was “a martyr mourned by all
Lebanese.” The March 14 leader,
Saad Hariri, the former prime
minister, said “the terrorism that is
targeting civilians, innocents and
civilian areas is criminal behavior.”
In a video statement last week, a
cleric acting as a spokesman for the
Abdullah Azzam Brigades declared
that the group would not stop its
bombings until Hezbollah withdraws
its fighters from Syria and Lebanese
authorities release youths imprisoned
for militant activities. Lebanese
officials had expressed concern after
the arrest of the group’s leader,
Majid al-Majid, about the possibility
of retaliatory attacks.
Areas in Beirut’s southern suburbs,
where Hezbollah maintains its
headquarters among residents who
are mainly Shiite but include Sunni
Palestinians, Christians and others,
have been hit twice in the past year,
first in July, in a bombing that
wounded many but caused no
reported deaths, then in August,
when a bomb killed at least 18
people and wounded hundreds. The
August attack was closely followed by
two attacks on Sunni mosques in the
northern city of Tripoli that killed
dozens.
Threats have multiplied against
Hezbollah and its followers from
supporters of the Syrian insurgency
who are incensed that Hezbollah has
sent fighters to support the Syrian
government.
While the Future bloc officially
disavows the use of violence, some of
its leaders have been involved in
funneling arms to Syrian rebels, and
some of its constituents have become
radicalized, following hard-line Sunni
clerics who have called for attacks on
Hezbollah. And insurgents from
Syria, including foreign jihadists as
well as Syrians, have increasingly
penetrated the porous border into
Lebanon. In recent weeks some
groups have said in interviews and
video statements that they plan to
escalate attacks on Hezbollah
interests in Lebanon.
In an interview last month, a rebel
commander said that some insurgent
groups had already arrived in
Lebanon from Syria. “They want to
attack all the regime’s allies in
Lebanon,” the commander said,
asking not to be identified by name
for protection from reprisals.
“Lebanon became their arena.”
In another recent interview, a Syrian
anti-government activist reached in
Aleppo, the embattled city in
northern Syria, said that 125 fighters
were preparing to leave the city to
launch attacks in Hezbollah’s
heartland in southern Lebanon,
including some fighters from the two
most radical rebel groups, the Qaeda-
linked Nusra Front and the even
more extremist Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria. The Aleppo activist, who
said he was not involved with either
group, spoke on the condition of
anonymity for fear of retribution.
Also last month, a group calling itself
Mujahedeen of the Land of Sham, a
reference to greater Syria, circulated
a YouTube video showing masked
youths undergoing military training.
One fighter read a statement saying
that the group planned to shell what
it called “Hezbollah strongholds” in
the towns of Nubol and Zahra,
predominantly Shiite villages in
Aleppo province. The video, which
has since been removed by YouTube
as a violation of its policy on violence,
also said the group’s attacks on
Hezbollah members would be aimed
at “making their day night and their
night day.”
Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah,
has said in speeches that the group is
fighting in Syria to thwart takfiris, a
disparaging reference to Sunni
extremists who brand their
opponents as infidels. Mr. Nasrallah
has called them a threat not just to
Shiites but to the entire region.
The bombings are seen by supporters
and critics of Hezbollah as targeting
civilians to put pressure on Hezbollah
over its Syria policy. But Hezbollah’s
political base seems deeply
committed, and its fighters exhibit a
soldier-like discipline in going where
ordered. Still, the bombings have led
to new security measures in the
southern suburbs and left the group’s
supporters, as well as Shiites not
affiliated with the party, feeling
increasingly at risk.
Randa Slim, a Lebanese analyst at the
Middle East Institute, has said that
the recent string of attacks on
Hezbollah interests and civilians in
areas it controls has strengthened a
view among some of Lebanon’s
Shiites, that “the fight in Syria is
making the party and the community
vulnerable and less protected at a
time when the community feels itself
targeted by a number of domestic
and regional enemies.”
Mohammad Ghannam and Hwaida
Saad contributed reporting.
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