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Hezbollah vowed it would continue a “long war” against terrorists after two suicide bombs killed at least 37 people and injured 100 in a Hezbollah-controlled area of Beirut late Thursday. Online accounts close to the IS group claimed responsibility for the attack, targeting the Shiite Hezbollah movement for its participation in the Syrian war.
The bombs struck a Shiite community center and a bakery, said security forces, in a busy civilian district known for its Palestinian refugee camp and high population of Syrian refugees. A third bomber was found dead with the explosives undetonated, according to the interior minister.
BLOG: Lebanon at a Crossroad
The attack is the first in a year and a half of calm after an eight-month period of nine attacks on Hezbollah strongholds. Despite a Hezbollah offensive along the border and a scale-up in security measures, Thursday’s casualties were the highest in years.
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Photos from scene of twin blasts in #Lebanon's southern suburbs. Via #@zahri_abbas pic.twitter.com/Xio96L7mfM
— Hala Jaber (@HalaJaber)
November 12, 2015
Photos of Palestinian refugees donating blood to victims of the bombs in #Lebanon. Photos shared by Wael Farghawi pic.twitter.com/Ihw5beygJ0
— Joey Ayoub جووي أيوب (@joeyayoub)
November 12, 2015
Our martyrs are not numbers: Hussein & his wife were killed today in #BourjAlBarajneh. Their son is injured #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/EqruBVlf7U
— Rana Harbi (@RanaHarbi)
November 12, 2015
Prime Minister Tammam Salam called for national unity, declaring a day of mourning and an end to the political deadlock that has prevented the selection of a president and led to massive anti-government protests in Beirut over a garbage collection crisis. In the year and a half of relative calm, Hezbollah was able to cooperate more closely with Sunni politicians and has representatives in a unity cabinet created to rule in the absence of a president.
ANALYSIS: Who’s Who is Syria’s Civil War?
Factional and sectarian disagreement played out in a 15-year-long civil war that ended in 1990, and friction continues in the government, encouraged by the majority-Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia. Hezbollah has sent several hundreds of fighters into Syria with the support of pro-Assad Iran and, since Russia's involvement, the Lebanese forces.
The country of 4 million has received about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, adding to political rifts and social tensions.
