BEIRUT: At least 43 people were killed and more than 240 wounded in two suicide bombings on Thursday claimed by Islamic State in Beirut’s suburbs, a bastion of the Hezbollah militant group.
The explosions were the first attacks in more than a year to target a Hezbollah stronghold inside Lebanon, and came at time when the group is stepping up its involvement in the Syrian civil war — a fight which has brought Sunni Islamist threats and invective against the Iran-backed Shi’ite group.
Hezbollah has sent hundreds of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces in the four-year-old conflict over the border. Government forces backed by Hezbollah and Iranian troops have intensified their fight against mostly Sunni insurgents, including Islamic State, since Russia launched an air campaign in support of Assad on September 30.
Syria’s civil war is increasingly playing out as a proxy battle between regional rivals, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, which supports the rebels. The two foes also back opposing political forces in Lebanon, which suffered its own civil war from 1975 to 1990, and where a political crisis has been brought about by factional and sectarian rivalries.
