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Deadly Blasts Hit Hezbollah Area in Southern Beirut Deadly Blasts Hit Hezbollah Stronghold in Southern Beirut
(35 minutes later)
Twin explosions, possibly carried out by suicide bombers, rocked a southern neighborhood of Beirut on Thursday that is controlled by the Hezbollah militia, killing at least 23 people and wounding dozens. The blasts were the most damaging in Beirut in two years. BEIRUT, Lebanon — Two suicide bombers carried out a coordinated attack Thursday in a crowded area of southern Beirut controlled by the Hezbollah militia, and the Lebanese Red Cross said the blasts killed more than three dozen people and wounded nearly 200.
Al-Manar news website, controlled by Hezbollah, said the explosions were in the Bourj al-Barajneh neighborhood. It said the explosions “were synchronous and claimed a number of martyrs and injured.” It was the worst bombing assault in years to traumatize Beirut, which has endured such attacks periodically. The assault shattered a relative calm that prevailed in recent months despite the Syrian civil war raging next door.
The Lebanese Red Cross reported that 23 people were killed in the explosions and that a hundred were wounded. Hezbollah’s Al Manar news service and other Lebanese news media said the bombers struck during the evening rush hour, apparently to maximize casualties. There were unconfirmed reports that a third bomber had been foiled because his explosives belt only partly detonated.
Other Lebanese news accounts said it appeared that the blasts were suicide bombings and that an explosives belt worn by one of the assailants had not completely detonated. The attack took place in the Bourj al-Barajneh neighborhood of southern Beirut, an area close to a Palestinian refugee camp that has absorbed many Syrian refugees in the past four years.
Since the civil war erupted in Syria, Beirut has been subjected to bombings and other attacks carried out in the name of rival Syrian factions. Hezbollah, an influential political power in Lebanon that is regarded by Israel and the United States as a terrorist organization, is a major supporter of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, as is Iran, an ally of Hezbollah. The explosions hit a bustling area with narrow streets, many small shops and vendors selling fruits and vegetables from stalls and pushcarts.
A double bombing last year near an Iranian cultural center in the Hezbollah’s enclave, killed at least five people and wounded dozens. An offshoot of Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for that attack and said it would carry out more bombings against Hezbollah until the group withdrew its fighters from Syria. The Lebanese Red Cross said that by evening the death toll had reached at least 37, with 180 wounded. Al Manar said children were among the victims.
The attack was carried out two days before talks were set to begin in Vienna in a renewed international effort to find a political solution to the Syria conflict, now in its fifth year. It also came on a day punctuated by new offensives in Syria and Iraq against the extremist Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
Since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, Beirut and other Lebanese cities have been subjected to bombings and other attacks carried out in the name of rival Syrian factions. Hezbollah, an influential political power in Lebanon that is regarded by Israel and the United States as a terrorist organization, is a major supporter of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, as is Iran, an ally of Hezbollah.
A double bombing last year near an Iranian cultural center in the Hezbollah enclave killed at least five people and wounded dozens. An offshoot of Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for that attack and said it would carry out more bombings against Hezbollah until the group withdrew its fighters from Syria.
The attack on Thursday appeared to be the worst in terms of casualties since Aug. 23, 2013, when bombs hit two mosques in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, killing at least 42 people and wounding hundreds.