Charbel Says Accomplices in Iranian Embassy Attack to be Identified

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said on Monday that several security meetings will be held in the upcoming days to identify those who prepared the explosive-laden vehicle that exploded near the Iranian Embassy in Beirut in an attack that killed at least 23 people.

Charbel rejected in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper to reveal the side behind the twin bombing and whether al-Qaida or local factions are behind the attack.

A security source told the newspaper that coordination is ongoing between security agencies to identify the accomplices, denying that any involved person was detained.

“The ongoing security operations are confidential until we can reveal further information,” the source said.

Lebanese authorities had identified the two men who launched the double suicide attack on the Iranian embassy in Bir Hassan in the southern Beirut suburbs last week.

The southern city of Sidon was the home of Moein Abu Dahr, the Lebanese bomber in the deadly attack in the Bir Hassan neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs.

Abu Dahr's father told authorities he believed his son was involved after the army released a photograph of one of the suicide attackers. A DNA test identified his son as the bomber.

The other is Adnan Mohammed, a Palestinian from the Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp.

Mohammed lived in Zahrani near Sidon.

Both men are staunch supporters of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir.

The embassy attack was claimed by an al-Qaida-affiliated group that said it was targeting the Iran-backed by Hizbullah, which is fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's troops against Sunni-led rebels in neighboring Syria.

Informed security sources said that the identity of the two suicide bombers “puts an end to several scenarios including accusations against gulf countries, in particular, Saudi Arabia.”