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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| At Least 4 Killed as Bomber Strikes in Beirut | At Least 4 Killed as Bomber Strikes in Beirut |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| BEIRUT, Lebanon — A suicide bomber blew himself up early Tuesday in a neighborhood in south Beirut where the Shiite militia and political party Hezbollah holds sway, the most recent in a series of such attacks that have targeted civilian areas across Lebanon in recent months. | BEIRUT, Lebanon — A suicide bomber blew himself up early Tuesday in a neighborhood in south Beirut where the Shiite militia and political party Hezbollah holds sway, the most recent in a series of such attacks that have targeted civilian areas across Lebanon in recent months. |
| Lebanon’s National News Agency said the attack had killed four people and wounded more than 30 others. The attack in the Haret Hreik district took place near where a car bomb struck earlier this month, killing five people. | |
| The attack signaled a further decline in the sense of security in the Lebanese capital. Lebanon, fragile in the best of times, has been straining under the weight of large numbers of refugees from the war in neighboring Syria, as well as rising political and social tensions caused by different parties in Lebanon backing opposing sides in the Syrian civil war. | |
| Many of the bombings, including one last week in the town of Hermel, have targeted areas mostly populated by Shiites, who strongly support Hezbollah, which has sent fighters to support President Bashar al-Assad of Syria against rebels seeking to topple him. Many of Lebanon’s Sunnis sympathize with the mostly Sunni rebels, and some have gone to join the fight in Syria. | Many of the bombings, including one last week in the town of Hermel, have targeted areas mostly populated by Shiites, who strongly support Hezbollah, which has sent fighters to support President Bashar al-Assad of Syria against rebels seeking to topple him. Many of Lebanon’s Sunnis sympathize with the mostly Sunni rebels, and some have gone to join the fight in Syria. |
| For weeks, local news media have been reporting that Lebanon’s politicians were on the verge of forming a new cabinet to run the country, 10 months after the last one resigned. While a new government could improve matters, others fear that the recent violence is being carried out radical groups not beholden to any of Lebanon’s politicians. | |
| “There have been some positive developments on the domestic and regional levels, but it is not enough to take care of this type of phenomenon,” Ali Fayyad, a Hezbollah member of Parliament, told Al Manar television. | |
| The only possible claim of responsibility so far was posted on a Twitter account purportedly belonging to a group called the Nusra Front in Lebanon, which is assumed to be a branch of a group in Syria that is affiliated with Al Qaeda. It remains unclear, however, whether the claim is legitimate and even if the group does have a genuine presence in Lebanon. | |
| The bomb shattered balconies and sent up a fireball and a cloud of smoke between two residential buildings, according to footage from a surveillance camera shown on local television. Other footage showed uniformed soldiers forming a cordon around the area while men with plastic bags and tweezers collected remains of what was presumed to be the bomber. |