The rules of the game have changed. “Iraq-style” suicide bombers have been introduced to the mix with the double bombings that targeted the Iranian embassy in Beirut on Tuesday, November 19.
The first suicide bomber is thought to have opened the way for the second – and for a new phase of confrontation on Lebanese territory. The radical jihadis thus carried out their previous threats of converting Lebanon from an arena of “solidarity” to an arena of direct “jihad,” blaming the hostilities on Hezbollah because of its involvement in the fighting in Syria.
The sound of the blasts had barely subsided when Sirajuddin Zureiqat, leader of the Lebanese branch of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Abdullah Azzam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter, declaring the suicide bombers “two heroes of the Sunnis in Lebanon,” and dubbing the attack “the Iranian Embassy raid in Beirut.”