BICOM

A double suicide bomb in southern Beirut killed at least six people yesterday, in an attack by a Sunni Islamist group aimed at Hezbollah and Iran in opposition to their support for the Assad regime in Syria.

The attack is another example of the violence and Sunni-Shi’ite tensions in Syria playing an increasingly prominent and lethal role in neighbouring Lebanon. Yesterday’s bombing took place outside an Iranian cultural centre west of the Dahiya suburb in a Shia-dominated Hezbollah stronghold. Two cars attempted to enter the cultural centre, but were stopped by security guards before detonating their explosives. More than 120 people were reported injured.

A Sunni militant group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, said it had carried out the attack. In a statement, the group said, “We will continue – through the grace of God and his strength – to target Iran and its party in Lebanon [Hezbollah] in all of their security, political and military centres” for their role in supporting the Assad regime in Syria.

Hezbollah, which is largely bankrolled and trained by the Shi’ite Iranian regime, has fought side by side with Syrian government troops loyal to Assad, most recently last week in Yabroud and notably helping recapture the crucial town of Qusair last year. There is significant disquiet among Lebanon’s Sunni population over Hezbollah’s close support for the Assad regime and as a result, several deadly car bombs have been detonated in Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut in recent months. They include a massive bomb attack in November at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, which left 23 people dead. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, the same group which carried out yesterday’s attack perpetrated the Iranian Embassy bombing, specifying that it was meant to send a message to Hezbollah.

Despite the swift claim of responsibility for yesterday’s attack, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ma’ariza Afkaam told the IRNA Iranian news agency that “agents of the Zionist regime” had carried out the bombing.