Adonis Diaries

BEIRUT/Bir Hasan: Two suicide bombers – one driving a rigged car and the other on a motorcycle with an explosives belt – attacked the Iranian Embassy in Beirut Tuesday, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 150, security sources said.

The attack, confirmed by Lebanon’s military prosecutor as the work of suicide bombers, was claimed by an Al-Qaeda-linked group (The Abdullah Azzam brigades) and is the latest in a spate of deadly bombings linked to the war in Syria.

“The Abdullah Azzam brigades – the Hussein bin Ali cells – … are behind the attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut,” Sheikh Sirajeddine Zuraiqat, the group’s religious guide, said on his Twitter feed. (Zuraiqat was detained in Beirut in 2012 and let loose)

(This brigade was very active in Egypt and particularly in Sinai where they targeted western tourists in Cherm al Sheikh during the Mubarak regime.  They launched rockets at the city of Nahariya last year in order to draw military reactions of Israel on Hezbollah, and targeted the Presidential Palace in Lebanon 4 months ago. The late Abdullah Azzam was killed in 1989…)

Zuraiqat confirmed “It is a twin suicide operation by two heroes from the Sunni community in Lebanon,” and warned that the group – a Lebanon-based Al-Qaeda affiliate – would carry out further attacks until Hezbollah withdraws its fighters from Syria and Islamist detainees in Lebanon are released.

A high-level security source said CCTV footage showed the first suicide bomber detonating his explosives belt at the embassy’s entrance just before 10 a.m. after approaching the compound on a motorcycle.

Minutes later, a second explosion shook the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Bir Hasan when a second bomber detonated an explosives-laden Sports Utility Vehicle less than 50 meters from the embassy compound, the source added.

(The motorcycle was to destroy the Embassy door and let the vehicle be exploded within the compound. A water truck was ahead of the vehicle and the driver fled after the first conflagration and the truck the way to the next suicide bomber. The vehicle exploded in front of the building hosting the Iranian families of the embassy personnel)

In a statement, the Army said military experts determined the first explosion was the result of a suicide bomber on a motorcycle. The second suicide bomber was driving a four-wheel-drive vehicle, it added.

The security sources said among the 25 victims were Sheikh Ibrahim Ansari, the embassy’s cultural attaché who was leaving to be presented to the minister of culture, an Iranian civilian and a Lebanese who was employed at the embassy.

Five Iranians, including embassy guards and a nurse were also wounded in the bombings, according to the sources who spoke to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity.

Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi, speaking hours after the explosions, said his embassy was the target of a “terrorist attack” and blamed Israel, Iran’s long-time foe.

Head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, also said Tuesday’s bombings suggested Israel may have been involved.

“The attack is similar to the racially vindictive approach of the Zionist enemy [Israel],” he said.

The area around the embassy was littered with debris as firefighters fought to contain the flames from burning vehicles parked on the road adjacent to the embassy compound.

At least 6 bodies lay on the street leading to the compound as thick plumes of black smoke filled the sky over the neighborhood.

“I was waiting at the traffic sign on the street parallel to the Iranian embassy when I heard a loud explosion,” said a motorist, who refused to be identified.

“I was terrified. I saw black smoke, but I decided to continue my trip to Shweifat [southeast of Beirut],” she added.

Lebanon, polarized over the war in Syria, has seen a string of deadly car bombings in recent months, all widely linked to crisis in its war-torn neighbor.

On two separate occasions, car bombs have targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Iranian-backed Hezbollah which in May acknowledged it was fighting in Syria alongside forces loyal to President Bashar Assad against rebel groups.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has accused jihadists of being behind the bombings in the southern suburbs and vowed to  continue the military campaign in Syria as long as necessary.

(The embassy had no cement blocks around its perimeter as many embassies have, and is facing an open area and wide streets, otherwise the destruction and injuries would have been tripled by this 100 kg of bombs.)

(The military intelligence services have warned more than a year ago that Al Qaeda has bases in Lebanon, but the current minister of the interior and the chief of the internal security forces denied the accuracy of the military intelligence pieces…)

(In the afternoon, we watched the soccer game between Lebanon and Iran. The Iranian team won legs down (3 to 0)