6 Dead as Qaida Claims Suicide Blasts in Beirut's Southern Suburbs
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربيةSix people were killed on Wednesday in two suicide bombings that went off near an Iranian cultural center in Beirut's southern suburbs, an attack claimed by the al-Qaida linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades.
The Health Ministry said six people died and over 129 were injured in what the Lebanese army stated were two simultaneous suicide bombings at around 9:25 am in the Bir Hassan neighborhood in locations with a distance of only 100 meters from each other.
Health Minister Wael Abou Faour said human remains found in the area likely belonged to the bombers.
But the army command asked the families of those missing in the double bombing to head to al-Rassoul al-Aazam hospital on the airport road to carrying out DNA tests.
Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said one of the suicide bombers set off his explosives when police corporal Mohammed Dandash felt suspicious of him at a checkpoint in the area.
Dandash argued with him when the bomber tried to search for a location to park his car.
The corporal was among the six people killed in the blast.
The other suicide bomber, who was in another vehicle, was driving in the opposite direction and immediately triggered his explosives when the first blast went off, VDL said.
The army said the first blast was caused by around 75 kilograms of explosives and mortars stashed in a Mercedes carrying the fake license plate of Z121363.
The second explosion went off in a BMW X5, which was loaded with 90 kilos of explosives and mortars.
Its license plate is S158298, it said, adding the car was stolen from the airport road.
The Kuwaiti embassy, which lies in the area, said none of its staff was injured in the attack.
The Iranian Embassy said there were "no severe injuries among the diplomats and the staff at the cultural center."
The blasts took place close to the Beirut offices of Iran's official news agency, IRNA, and Iranian television IRIB.
A thick smoke billowed in the sky when the blasts went off as several vehicles went in flames.
Buildings in the area were also heavily damaged as seen on TV footage.
At one point, the army opened fire in the air to disperse the crowds that gathered in the area and pave way for ambulances and firefighters to transport the wounded and douse the blaze.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed the attack on its twitter account.
“The brothers of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, of the Hussein bin Ali Brigades claim the attack against the Iranian cultural center, which was a double martyrdom operation," it said.
The group said that the attack came in response to Hizbullah's fighting in Syria's war.
"We will continue... to target Iran and its party in Lebanon, in its security and political and military centers, until our demands are achieved," it said.
"First: that the party of Iran withdraws its forces from Syria. Second, that our prisoners are released from Lebanese prisons."
The same neighborhood witnessed near simultaneous attacks in November when suicide bombers linked to the Brigades targeted the Iranian embassy.
The blasts were the latest to hit a predominantly Shiite area.
Military prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr tasked the army intelligence with cordoning off the area and looking for evidence after he inspected the scene of the attacks.

Khomeini and AL Saud, please take your garbage to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tehran or Riyadh...!

This is why Hezbollah will triumph over the takfirism and zionists. Yabroud is completely surrounded instead of fighting the Resistance as men, they target civilian areas, in hope for us to pull back. Nobody is pulling back, not before every takfiri takfiri salafis is burned out of Syria and Lebanon.

continue with your arrogance mystic. Lets see where that will lead you and your terror party.

I await the day when I will read ONE meaningful post, ONE counter argument, ONE credible or mature info from you,-_Flamethrower_- , but alas!

are you seriously blaming the 2 new ministers who just started yesterday for this Shit that your masters brought to themselves and to the lebanese ??
do you really think or it is just an "answering machine" ??

March 14 politicians are hard working and honest as much as Haifa Wehbe is a singer.

@captain: Do you fly Boeing777 or Airbus A380? Do you do any layovers in Tehran?

I have never been to Tehran. I have been to Saudia twice. But I can tell that the Iranians I met are far more educated, cultured and civilized than the Saudis. The ones I have met are civilians and we never discussed politics.
We do not have B777 nor A380s in Lebanon. Sorry dude!
Hope I answered your question.

amatoury, you see captain (in his dreams) was talking from a purely sectarian point of view.

Why don´t you all go for coffee or something? It´s like family dinner in here.

@Jaafar: Please, stick to the topic. These are very somber moments we must all pull together to fight these threats. I urge you to limit your useless comments to the relevancy of the topic.

Labayka ya Mystic, Labayka ya Nasrallah, Labayka ya Khomeini (Sectarian in heart and mind)......... Loya;lty to Khomeini, not Lebanon.

Al Nusra/Qaeda are only effective against civilians. On the battlefield they are nothing more than squealing animals, dying like flies.

When HA rains rockets and long range artillery along with the assad forces dropping explosive barrels on syrian villages and cities would that qualify as mass murdering civilians...?

eagledawn, are saying is that it is OK for innocent civilians to die on Lebanese soil at the hands of Al-Quaeda because HA is killing people in Syria? If this is what you are saying, I would urge to reconsider. I strongly oppose HA's unilateral action in Syria (I stress on the world unilateral), but there is no way for me to accept that innocent people die in my country at the hands of Islamists or anyone else, no matter what the cause is.

jabal10452, I am sorry you understood what flamethrower wanted others to understand from my comment. I am in no way justifying the death of any Lebanese citizen whatsoever. Re read my comments as they were in response to a poster who was talking about mass murdering civilians. HA is also mass murdering civilians in Syria, a fact well documented. That was the extent of my comment.

eagledawn: only a little detail though: HA didnt use rockets in syria, they went in at close range and pinned them heart-eating, throat-slicing savages one by one, and they did a great job at it, the losers are still whining about it :)

yes assad too, is a murderer, though a different breed.
i wonder who gave me 10 thumbs down for insulting al nusra!

kanaandian: they dont support nusra, they swore it! but they dont accept that you criticize it.

May God have mercy on Lebanon and hopefully the new government to be formed in 3 months will have people qualified for the job to rid Lebanon of all these terrorists.

Captain, please stay safe. As an HA aviator, your job entails many risks. God Speed dude!

I am not an HA Aviator. I fly but not for MEA because Mohamad Hout took over and the airport is named after Hariri. The airport belongs to all Lebanon.
I have the photo of a B747 when MEA was at its glory.

Does Boulevard Hadi Nassrallah belong to all of Lebanon or only to a certain sect? I could not write my comments @Captain without mentioning that you genuinely seem like a nice guy and I wholeheartedly hope you are not as sectarian as your comments might imply.

There are many streets in the name of politicians and martyrs from all sects in Lebanon. But this is our only civilian airport. Hariri did not build it from his own pocket.
There are airports around the world that each were renovated by one person respectively and from their own pockets and the airports still carry the cities' names and not their renovators.

I do not belong to any political party nor support any. But I strongly believe that March 14 politicians are not worthy to run this country. No one is qualified and not even in the right post.
As for Hezbullah, I believe the army should defend Lebanon, but we need Hezbullah until our army is capable of doing the job and that comes after we rid Lebanon of these greedy politicians.

"There are airports around the world that each were renovated by one person respectively and from their own pockets and the airports still carry the cities' names and not their renovators."
.... and as a seasoned pilot who flew B747 long stretch bodies, I am sure you landed at New York's JFK or Paris' Charles Degaule airports. Were these airports built by JFK's and Degaules' own money. Do you fly kites as well?

Are you the ice-dude from Fantastic 4? I thought they turned you into a nice person.

Captain: you seem new here, so i thought i'd let you know: ice-man is a perfect example of a troll, he never comments about the matters at hand and never shows the slightest interest in any honest discussion. all he does is diversion and provocation. i wouldnt waste too much time answering him if i was you.

oh and dont mind popeye either, he's like ice-man, only much lamer.

I am not new here but I hardly comment on Naharnet.
ice-man wrote harsh comments before in an article posted a long time ago. But most of the time he writes politely then all of a sudden: BOOM!
I wonder why Naharnet deleted FlameThrower's comments. They are surely more truthful that the articles posted.

Thank you @mowaten.
We can discuss our ideas. But why make fun or insult each other. We all see one things from different angles.
I am sure each one of us here finds at least one politician is a clown if not all of them. We can discuss this but without insulting each other.

yes Captain, we can discuss anything, but not with anyone ;) at least not with the trolls here because they are incapable of any civilized discussion.
but dont mind them, and keep sharing your comments and thoughts :)

At least you and I @mowaten carry the Lebanese flag in our logo. :)

@Mowaten : king of trolls calling other trolls :) You make me laugh ... you're like Hezbollah terrorists calling others terrorists. Or Hezbollah invading Syria and complaining that our country is now invaded by other terrorists.
Or Syrian / Iranian puppet calling for democracy :)
You're an oxymoron (pun intended).
Other than that ... it's again horrible what happened today. Unfortunately, with every bomb and death, we get less and less sensitive about it... i truly hope this will stop and that Nasrallah can swallow his pride !
War will not bring peace !

lol mowaten! No answer needed yet you posted one FULL paragraph)))

Why would I report your comments ? They serve the purpose of exposing how ridiculous you are :) I would never do that ! Bring em back please !

captain ..since you seem a veteran from the glory days of MEA....can you please tell me what is the reason beirut - new york Direct flight was never allowed ( hint marines barrcks!!!! also MEA was founded by saeb beik father of the current PM does it make it the airlines for only a certain sect or for all lebanon??

Saeb Beik was a great man. MEA was built for all of the Middle East.
Before, all sects live happily in Lebanon. Now even in one sect, they fight each other. Take maronites for example and see how many divisions they are.
Now, politicians seek to own everything instead of building everything for the people like in the days of the 60s and 70s.

Maronite fighting each other is politically HEALTHY!!! It's actually the only sects that is divided by "ideals", not religion.
I wish that Sunnis (and Shiias) were divided in a similar manner to break Hassan and Hariri's political monopoly on their people.

no one can stop this.
again, thank you hizbushaitan for bringing more terrorism on our country.

m8 stupidity will never cease to amaze me.
hizbushaitan is gathering what they did in Abra as well as in Syria.

stupid m8 idiots ft and mowaten:
so now you want us to believe you that the Iranian cultural center is a civilian site? :)
everybody knows that it house the Iranian guards :) and most probably several of those are dead.
furthermore, if you can stop someone willing to explode himself then by all means be my guest.
stupid comments as usual.

oh yea, "everybody knows" it had been at least a day since you used that powerful factual argument.

ft shows us daily how far he is from being civilized :)
he is a thug and ... oh that's it! nothing more.
enjoy these bombings ft and enjoy hizbushaitan and their alter ego the salafists and the assir followers...
all this does not relate to me, but they definitely relate to you: enjoy them.

lol geha, go and count the number of times you insulted him and me, just on this page. dont pretend you're an offended little girl because he said ghasb 3an ra2btak

I agree. but if you want to mean that I am justifying these bombings then you are wrong.
actually I am against both hizbushaitan and those doing these bombings.
just saying clearly what is going on does not mean justify :)
unless you want us to hide behind our finger?

"anyway, in war, you hit the enemy where it hurts, and it does not mean necessarily to hit them personally. most probably hitting their families has a higher impact." geha, january 21, 2014.

hahahahah the hypocrisy. at least post under your own alias geha, instead of creating this fake lover to defend you.
in any case, it's too bad because i still have the link, and you're lying.

why would you lie to defend him then?
here is the original discussion:
joker37:
"then let them target HA fighters in syria. if a guy picks a fight with you do you go and beat up his wife and kids if do you fight with him?"
geha:
"is hizbushaitan killing only Syrian fighters in Syria? I largely doubt that rockets and bombs select only fighters.
anyway, in war, you hit the enemy where it hurts, and it does not mean necessarily to hit them personally. most probably hitting their families has a higher impact.
then again, I do not understand about these things..."

Hypocrisy you say...LOL ! Here's your comment to the massacres and barrel bombings on Aleppo, dear mowaten:
_mowaten_
Strike ya Bashar, smash and bash'em! the vermin knows no other language than the one of terror, violence, murder and slaughter.

stupid mowaten:
yes I said that, and I confirm it once more, but it is taken out of context as usual.
it was an analysis of the why, while I explicitly said then that in the end I am not a military expert.
anyway, we are all used to your twisting facts, so nothing new here, and it just confirms that you have no credibility at all.
and by the way: it is abut time for you to know that (unlike you) I have one name only :) so stop insulting people on this site based on your delusions.

lol i already answered you on that you troll. i stand behind those words, as they were clearly addressed to terrorists who were saying they refuse to negotiate.
can you see the difference with your mini-IQ?
fighting terrorists (or any armed men)
v/s
slaughtering civilians, by slicing their throats or blowing up carbombs.

geha: your comment is here for all to see. i dont need to waste my time with your childish attempts of justifications.
as for your request, i promise that i will stop "insulting people" by saying they are you. you on the other hand, may continue calling me names, because honestly, that's often the most powerful part of you comments.

mowaten:
honestly speaking, I do not see any difference between hizbushaitan and what they did or do, and these salafis whether Syrians or assir follwoers.
they deserve each other. they are both baby killers in my eyes, and they both do it in the name of religion, and religion has nothing to do with both of them.
in my eyes, they are both criminals and terrorists who are doing this in my country.
whether you accept this point of view or not is not my concern, as I know that the Lebanese people are fed up with these criminals.

that was for poppeye, but i'll repeat it for you geha:
can you see the difference with your mini-IQ?
fighting terrorists (or any armed men)
v/s
slaughtering civilians, by slicing their throats or blowing up carbombs.

yeah u're right, salafists killed hariri and pierre gemayel.
U're so clever u could be political analyst on almanar or almayadeen.

The takfiris in Qalamoun Yabroud are dropping like flies and everyday, their days are numbered. There will be no mercy for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmfZKiiA3KI

65 of your saints came back from Qalamoun in body bags this past week)

popeye: you are too modest, i heard it was around 240,000 HA fighters that died just this morning.

same here: I really hope mowaten is right for once :)
but we all know he is an idiot :)

"Irony is wasted on the stupid" Oscar Wilde
i guess "we all know" how wasted it is on me. right geha? :)

@mowaton... 240,000 I too hope your right those terrorist Hizbshytan army are like the Quaida ... To me they are equal in thier evil... But hyzbshytan and company is far more ahead in the mass killing number
ie today or close to everyday 4 dead from blast by Quaida terrorists and in Syria 60 dead from Barrel bombs from the ASSad nASSri terrorists...

2 martyrs and many injured by what look like a suicidal attack.

HA actions resulted in these terror attacks. It was so naive on the part of Nasrallah to think he can contain the war and its consequences within the borders of Syria. This is an open war between 2 terrorist parties : HA and Al Aqaeda.

@mowaton... 240,000 I too hope your right those terrorist Hizbshytan army are like the Quaida ... To me they are equal in thier evil... But hyzbshytan and company is far more ahead in the mass killing number
ie today or close to everyday 4 dead from blast by Quaida terrorists and in Syria 60 dead from Barrel bombs from the ASSad nASSri terrorists...

lebicon: you posted that an hour ago. why repost it now? it still doesnt make sense.

khalas wala khalas. shame on you all for your opinion.
where has humanity gone?

Any productive comments @southern on the article. These are very sad moments and for you to come on here and just get busy in petty things is despicable. Have respect for those that have fallen for the sake of the resistance!

No one will win this war. We are in the eye of the storm. There is an endless supply of those willing to commit suicide. HA must reassess its fruitless and meaningless selfish war in Syria. I doubt this will happen unless they are ordered by Iran.

Machia, the risk is that the terrorists are Lebanese takfiris. This movement thrives on frustrated and radicalized local Sunnis. A wall would stop people movement but will never stop ideologies from taking root here (they already did). In this sense, HA is helping to radicalize some Sunnis here by crossing the border and going on the offensive in Syria. Had HA assumed a strictly defensive stance like they did with Israel, the problem could have been easier to contain.

they started crossing the border to fight there about 2 years before hezbollah did. it's not religious, it's not even political, it's purely social and economic: go and see the misery that they have been left in, in akkar or some areas of tripoli it looks like somalia. people who live there can very easily be manipulated and hired because they dont have much to live for and desperate for income.
i suspect mustaqbal did this on purpose, since they had control of most bodies there and on the national level.
nasrallah warned about this years ago, addressing mustaqbal he urged them to take care of the poor people in akkar and tripoli, instead of seeking war with HA.

i see the drones are getting histerical and reporting everything they cant handle, but it is up to <naharnet's moderator> to delete or not. why would this be censored? it was a quote from a speech:
Everything we ask for is for you to understand that we are a resistance movement; we did our best to defend the country, preserve Lebanese and Arab dignity, and liberate lands and sanctities. We want two things from you: Leave us alone, don’t plot against us or backstab us. We open our chest for Israel bullets; this how we want to be martyred. We don’t want to take your bullets in our backs. We don’t need protection from you. Care and serve the people, especially in poor areas like Akkar, the Bekaa and the North. What did they do for Akkar, Tripoli and the North in the past five years?”
(1). Another somber and painful moment for us Lebanese. In such moments, I am in grief, pain and utterly stunned. My heart, my thoughts and my prayers go to all those victims who fell under the evil of such killers. The same goes for all those who have again suffered injury and loss of property in these cowardly twin blasts. I would also like to urge my fellow countrymen and women, irrespective of your sect, of your political belonging, of your views, that in such grieving and dark moments, not to engage each other with such accusations and counter-accusations, but to show solidarity with each other, only then could we find our rightful footing.
(2). Those who planned and planted these bombs want to kill, maim and destroy, but very much part of their sickly agenda is also their wish to cause deep rifts and suspicions within Lebanese society. If we follow their wishes, then it means that they have begun claiming victory. Let us as sensible people bond together, only then would our maturity and sense of purpose inch us forward to finding solutions and defeat those who want us so much harm. It is in such moments that we as a people could show that we are well above it, and not to be swayed.
Ah dear Titan, common sense is the one thing quite a few people in this forum lack. But what they lack of, they more than make up for it with blind hatred. In some sense, they do represent quite a proportion of our fellow citizens. But I've long stopped bothering about the thumbs down, I post because I feel that it is my duty to do so and reach as many readers as possible. Trust me, and I know what I am talking about, this website, and its forum are being read in big numbers, and abroad too. So let's just keep on with our mission for common sense. Thanks dear brother.

more like all powers in the region and in the world want to put their noses here. we dont decide if we want to play or not, all we can do is deal with it, defend ourselves, and turn the game to our advantage.

Al Qaeda would want to spread to Lebanon anyway, do you think Salafis on bomb 'responsively', wake up people, they want a caliphate, do you really think they'd just leave us be?

Takfiris have been suicide bombing Iraq for three to four years, Lebanon had none until Hizballah got involved in the Syrian war. Furthermore, if as mentioned above that the takfiri's were gunning for Lebanon after Syria The Lebanese army and EVERY PERSON from Shia, Christian, moderate Sunnis to Druze in Lebanon would have faced them off. It would have been a war against all of Lebanon. As it stand now some feel that Hizballa brought this upon themselves.

Was Al-Qaeda also in Nahr el Bared (2007) because Hezbollah was in Syria? Do u think they only plan to take over Syria and leave Lebanon alone?

It is not what you think, what he thinks, what I think. Qaeda considered Lebanon a Nusra front and not a Jihad front. Go check all their publications and websites. Not until the terror party went to Syria did Qaeda consider lebanon a jihad environment. No use for hypothetical questions here. The fact remains we were spared this type of terror since Qaeda's inception. Point on the Line)
Hi Eli, good post. Despite the fact that I don't completely agree as to when or how or why Hezbollah got involved in the Syrian war, but now I have come to understand, and even accept the logic of your writing. No matter in which camp we may belong, now fact has been proven well beyond any doubt, that the Takfiris would be gunning Lebanon, whether Hezbollah got involved or not, this was part of their agenda irrespective. Though I still sympathize with the plight of the Syrian people, given the fact that their once noble revolution got hijacked by the Satanist Takfiris, sure, they wanted to replace an awfully brutal regime of the Assads clan, but now in iew of what could come, one cannot but understand and even sympathize with Hezbollah's predicament.

@ nowherefast the Lebanese army dealt with nahr el Bared and MOST Lebanese were behind it and supported it. Right?

Like I said if alqaida had or have plans for Lebanon, The Lebanese army and ALL Lebanese would be ready to defend the homeland.

Sunni terrorists fighting Shia terrorists. Nothing new, all are shit.

I praise your parents kanaaljdid, for the great work they did in educating you.

I believe HA unilateral withdrawal from Syria will pave the way for national consensus and efforts to fend off these attacks. Absent that, these terrorists acts will continue and will find a sympathetic environment among some Lebanese. I wish a speedy recovery to all the injured and condolences to those who perished. May the Lord keep Lebanon in its grace, amen.

I do not think that I sympathize with Hizballah as such but with the Shia of Lebanon who are suffering and taking the brunt of Hizballah wars. They might be silent, and at times defend the hizb, but you probably know how mothers and fathers feel when their young come back dead. those poor soles that died today from this cowardly act had nothing to do with Syria or Hizballah and I can guaranty you their families will blame HIzballah when the dust settles..

but, the majority of shia support them, as do a significant number of christians

RIP Corporal Mohammed Dandash and all the innocents who died today.

RIP for all those who died today.
I hope that the wounded get better quickly.
Is Assad worth so much for Hassan to pay this price to protect his baathist regime?

to answer your question, no. assad is not worth the "SOLES" of those who died and were injured today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knAA-glMEEM
refreshments are being served outside the Sauna room.
It seems like every one is liberating Palestine by killing fellow Arabs! Stupidity is running deep in our region

why is everything so sectarian with you? Why? Why? They all are Lebanese, southern!

nope, we must never give in and split...this is what the imperialists want, to split syria, to split lebanon, all to weaken us!

Israel did this for sure, just like it killed harriri and the rest.