海角大神

Lebanese soldiers and militiamen stood among rubble and charred听vehicles outside the Iranian Embassy in Beirut this morning, surveying the damage wrought by two听explosions that killed at least 23, including Iran's cultural attach茅 to Lebanon, and injured dozens more.

The explosions tore the balconies off nearby buildings and shattered windows blocks away. While hardly the first spillover from Syria's war, it was the first attack against an Iranian target.

鈥淭his attack raised the bar and made the Iranians a direct target,鈥澨齭aid Lebanese political analyst Kamel Wazne. 鈥淥nce you destroy these听barriers, you open the gate for a very complicated game in the Middle听East.鈥�

Iran has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with weapons, money,听and political clout since the uprising in Syria started in March 2011.

Today's bombing is the latest in a string of attacks against Shiite听targets in Beirut 鈥� there were two attacks in the city's southern听suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, over the summer, one of which racked up the largest number of casualties since Lebanon's civil war. 听The听Lebanese Shiite militant group, which is also backed by听Iran, has sent thousands of fighters into Syria to fight alongside the听regime.听Shiites have hit back with their own attacks on Sunni areas.

听Last week, as Shiite Muslims marked the holy day of Ashoura, Hezbollah听leader Hassan Nasrallah reiterated his movement鈥檚 commitment to Mr.
听础蝉蝉补诲.

"On this day of Ashoura, I declare our commitment to the resistance听with its readiness, its resources, its weapons," he told a crowd of听supporters in his south Beirut stronghold. "As long as there is a听purpose for our presence there, we will remain [in Syria]."

The first blast went off around听9:30 a.m.听local time and was followed by a much larger explosion a few minutes later.

鈥淭here was a first explosion. It was small. I thought maybe a tree fell. So I went to the balcony,鈥� said Heba, a young woman asking to use only her first name. 鈥淭hen I went back to the kitchen and there was a second, larger blast.鈥�

The second blast blew out her windows and ripped through her apartment, pulling down parts of the ceiling, knocking over tables, and covering everything with shards of glass. In the building next door, the blast ripped off the balconies up to the fifth floor.

Across the street, Rabih Istanbuli says he saw bodies falling from the听buildings. After the first smaller blast, residents came to their windows听and balconies to see what happened, only to be met with a larger second explosion.
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鈥淭he second bomb was there, at the entrance to the embassy,鈥� said Mr.听Istanbuli, pointing to a blackened patch of earth in the middle of the听street.听鈥淎fter that there was a lot of shooting. I couldn鈥檛 tell who it was.听It was chaos. After 15 minutes there was a lot of guys with guns. Civilian guys with guns,鈥� he said. 听

The Lebanese Army blocked off the streets leading to the embassy.听Well-armed members of the Amal movement, which controls the neighborhood, patrolled alongside the police and Army.

A relatively obscure Al Qaeda-linked group called the Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility, citing Iran鈥檚 support for the Syrian regime as the motivation. The United States in 2012.

"It was a double martyrdom operation by two of the Sunni heroes of听Lebanon," Sheikh Sirajeddine Zuraiqat, the group's religious guide,听, according to Reuters. The Twitter account is widely听believed to belong to him.
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Writing in Arabic, to drive Iran and听Hezbollah out of Syria and to put pressure on Lebanon to release听jihadis from prison.
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Before that claim, Iran lobbed accusations at Israel. Iran's PressTV听reported that Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham an 鈥�'inhumane crime and a spiteful measure' by the Zionist听Israeli regime and its mercenaries."
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After initial opposition gains in Syria, the regime and its allies听have managed to turn the tide in their favor. In recent weeks regime听forces and militias that support Assad retook some key transportation听routes and laid siege to rebel areas. Some speculate today鈥檚 attack听was retaliation from the opposition.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 [Assad's] new operations in Syria, in the mountains, and in听Qalamoun, that triggered the suicide attack in front of the embassy,鈥� said Mr. Wazne. 鈥淭he decision was made somewhere else. We need to know exactly who gave the order to carry out the attack.鈥�

Residents said they feel as if they are suffering for someone else鈥檚听conflict as Syria鈥檚 civil war increasingly creeps across the border听into Lebanon.
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Jad Kobissi, a man who lives two blocks from the site of today鈥檚听blast, worries it鈥檚 a harbinger of things to come.
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鈥淪yria, everyone, is making their little war over there 鈥� you have to听see Iran, Arab countries, Russia, America, France. Unfortunately, I听think the war is coming here,鈥� said Mr. Kobissi as he watched crews听clearing the rubble from the streets of his neighborhood.