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Beirut
Attack Marks Militant Resurgence
Embassy Bombing
Points to Rise of al Qaeda-Inspired Extremists, Enabled by a Weak Government
and Civil War in Syria
By
MARIA ABI-HABIB
Updated Nov. 21, 2013
2:40 a.m. ET
Twin attacks against the
Iranian Embassy in Beirut signal the rising strength of al Qaeda-inspired
groups in Lebanon, in another toxic byproduct of the Syrian war. Maria Habib
and "NOW Lebanon" columnist Michael Weiss discuss on the News Hub.
(Photo: AP)
BEIRUT—As new details
emerged about twin suicide bombings near the Iranian Embassy here, Lebanese
officials described an outburst of violence that reveals the resurgence of al
Qaeda-inspired groups in their country, a toxic byproduct of the Syrian war.
The attack on Tuesday
killed 25 people and wounded 147, but was blocked from reaching its target. The
second suicide bomber was prevented from ramming his explosives into the
Iranian embassy after a water truck was abandoned at the embassy's gate by
frightened bystanders who fled their vehicle after the first bomber, who
approached on a motorcycle, detonated his explosives, security officials said
on Wednesday.
Behind the attack is a
recent shift by radicalized Lebanese Sunnis to join the region's jihadist
movement—for years dominated by other Arab nationals—as splits within the
Lebanese government leave a vacuum in which they can pursue their violent
activities.
Small groups like the
Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack, are
growing in strength, bolstered by millions of dollars from private Saudi donors,
Lebanese and U.S. officials said. The funds go to Sunni Islamist militants
seeking to help overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and strike at his
Shiite allies, Iran and Hezbollah.
Some Lebanese leaders
have turned a blind eye to the rise of such groups, worried that by confronting
them, their support base would erode, Western officials said.
The violence, the
first bomb attack on an embassy in Lebanon since the U.S. Embassy bombing in
1983, deepened fears of intensified violence spilling over from the war in
Syria.
The al Qaeda-like
bombings that hit the Iranian embassy in Lebanon Tuesday have deepened fears
that the regional proxy war over Syria is now playing out in a deadly new way
in Lebanon. Via The Foreign Bureau, WSJ's global news update. (Photo: AP)
Admiral Dennis Blair,
former Director of National Intelligence, talks to the WSJ's Sara Murray about
the risk of an Al Qaeda comeback in Syria.
"We have entered
a totally new phase, security-wise. The Syrian war is now here," said
Nohad Machnouk, a member of parliament with the anti-Hezbollah Future Movement.
"It will be more bloodshed…until there is a way forward in Syria."
The Abdullah Azzam
Brigades described the attack as revenge for Iran and Hezbollah's support for
the Assad regime. The group is known to operate in Lebanon but has never staged
such a devastating attack.
On Wednesday,
Hezbollah held military-style funerals for some of the victims, with yellow
party flags draped over caskets.
The radicalization of
Sunnis in Lebanon is most acute in the north, where an open war is being fought
around Tripoli, the country's second-largest city.
Residents of Tripoli's
suburbs suffer from poverty and illiteracy, and are openly hostile to a
government they say does nothing to help them. Al Qaeda groups there have waged
monthslong battles with Alawites, the offshoot of Shiite Islam to which the
Syrian president belongs. Radical groups even ambushed the Lebanese security
forces last month.
Women in a Hezbollah
stronghold of Beirut toss flowers over a funeral procession on Wednesday for
victims of the attack on the Iranian Embassy.Associated Press
Concern about radical
Lebanese leaders stepped up this year after al Qaeda's core leadership in
Pakistan and Yemen sanctioned affiliates in northern Lebanon, according to
intercepted communications between the parties, American and Lebanese officials
said.
Rivalries between
moderates of Lebanon's Sunni political class have allowed Lebanon's Sunni
radicals to flourish over the last year. The clout of these politicians has
waned in recent years, limiting their ability and will to support a crackdown
on extremist groups, U.S. and Lebanese officials said.
In Tripoli's suburbs,
men drink tea and play backgammon underneath black al Qaeda flags. Armed men
who pledge allegiance to religious leaders patrol the streets in black jeeps
with tinted windows and no license plates. Pop-up mosques have been created to
collect arms and funding for rebels fighting in Syria or operations in Lebanon,
changing locations weekly, from garages to abandoned buildings.
"We're fighting a
war that's now out in the open up north," said an American official about
growing extremism in Tripoli.
The religious leader
of the group that claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack, Lebanese Sunni
Sheikh Sirajeddine Zuraiqat, is one of many radicals in Lebanon who have used
political connections to keep their activities from being curbed.
Mr. Zuraiqat, thought
to be in his mid-20s, only recently turned to radical religious ideology, said
an acquaintance.
He used to run a
cellphone shop in a central Beirut neighborhood.
This year, Mr.
Zuraiqat was detained by Lebanese army intelligence agents on suspicion of ties
to terrorism, said an official who works in the office of the Grand Mufti, the
country's leading Sunni religious authority.
Mr. Zuraiqat's parents
came to the mufti and asked for him to intercede on their son's behalf, said a
person familiar with the negotiations. Soon after, Mr. Zuraiqat was released.
A spokesman for the
mufti's office said authorities haven't proved their allegations against Mr.
Zuraiqat. He added that the mufti would support the sheik's imprisonment if he
was responsible for Tuesday's bombings.
A more prominent Sunni
leader, Shadi Mawlawi, openly roams the streets of Tripoli's Qibbeh district,
an area he said that the national army "wouldn't dare enter."
Mr. Mawlawi was
arrested by Lebanese authorities last year, following a tip by American
officials who suspected him of financing and arming al Qaeda-linked Syrian
rebels.
The 27-year-old was
charged with belonging to Jabhat al Nusra, an al Qaeda offshoot in Syria. He
denied the charges. The U.S. Embassy declined to comment.
Mr. Mawlawi's arrest
sparked deadly clashes in Tripoli that lasted 11 days, ending when he was released
on a $333 bail—paid, he said, by Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Mr. Mikati denied
paying Mr. Mawlawi's bail. But upon his release, Mr. Mawlawi was driven in the
luxury sedan of Lebanon's finance minister to Mr. Mikati's house in Tripoli, as
fireworks were set off in his honor by supporters.
"I ate kanafi
with Mikati, and it was delicious," Mr. Mawlawi said, referring to a
famous Tripoli dessert.
Mr. Mikati
acknowledged receiving Mr. Mawlawi, but said he showed up uninvited. "I
didn't do myself, anything to release him…the judge took that decision,"
he said. "I didn't ask that he come to my home."
The case against Mr.
Mawlawi was reopened this spring by Lebanon's Military Tribunal.
Mr. Mawlawi denied the
charges of being a member of Jabhat al Nusra, an al Qaeda offshoot in Syria.
But he boasted that, along with other prominent, government-supported sheiks,
he has raised up to $1.5 million for Syrian jihadis and sent them
"hundreds of arms" over the last two years.
"We are all
victims in the north, Beirut does not care," he said, referring to the
central government. "No one is addressing the plight of Sunni
[Muslims].…Shadi Mawlawi is doing what all other players are doing in this
game, to protect their own side."
—Nour Malas, Rima
Abushakra and Mohammed Hamdar contributed to this article.
Corrections & Amplifications
Tuesday's violence in Beirut was the first bomb attack on an embassy in Lebanon since the U.S. Embassy bombing in 1983. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it was the first attack since 1983.
Tuesday's violence in Beirut was the first bomb attack on an embassy in Lebanon since the U.S. Embassy bombing in 1983. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it was the first attack since 1983.
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