Bomb targeting Hezbollah found in Beirut

Bomb was safely disposed of; had al-Qaida linked group al-Nusra's signature with anti-Hezbollah, anti-Syria statements.

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
free syrian army370 (photo credit: Ward al-Keswani/Shaam News Network/Reuters)
free syrian army370
(photo credit: Ward al-Keswani/Shaam News Network/Reuters)
A bomb discovered in the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut on Wednesday reflected the increasing spillover of the Syrian war into Lebanon.
The bomb had writing on it that included the signature of the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front along with anti-Hezbollah and anti-Syrian statements, according to Lebanon’s Daily Star.
Hezbollah blocked off the area and disposed of the bomb, preventing security forces from reaching the scene, the report said.
In Syria on Tuesday, 12 Hezbollah members were killed in an ambush near Damascus, Al-Arabiya TV reported.
Sources close to the Lebanese terrorist organization said the attack wounded more than 20 fighters and they were transferred to a hospital in south Beirut.
This follows a steady stream of reports that Hezbollah is involved in the fighting in Syria in an effort to defend the regime of President Bashar Assad.
Also on Tuesday, the Future Movement in Lebanon, headed by MP Saad Hariri, the younger son of the assassinated former prime minister Rafik Hariri and the main member of the anti-Hezbollah March 14 Alliance, criticized the terrorist groups involvement in Syria.
“We condemn the increase in the number of Lebanese dead in Syria as a result of the continuing involvement of Hezbollah in the fighting,” the Future Movement said, as quoted by the Daily Star.
The statement went on, “[Hezbollah] has endorsed a new role for its arms in line with regional plans and away from the Lebanese national interest.”
Hezbollah has made efforts over the past years to appear as a Lebanese national movement, to appeal to the masses and downplay its Islamic and Iranian associations. However, by increasing its role in Syria to prop up Assad, the Shi’ite movement risks exposing itself to criticism that it does not act in the interests of Lebanese.
Lebanon has a history of parties and ethnic groups acting in their own interests rather than in the interests of the state.
The Future Movement statement also complained over the continued shelling of Lebanese territory by the Syrian army.
“Such involvement associates Lebanon with a number of dangers and further hurts the image of Hezbollah, which has distanced itself from its primary [purpose, which is] leading a resistance against the Israeli enemy,” MP Atef Majdalani of the Future Movement said.
On Monday, two Hezbollah fighters were killed alongside Syrian forces in the village of al-Qasayr near the Lebanese border, AFP reported.