The challenge of tackling the menace of terrorism remains a top priority for the world. Efforts on various levels are under way, and the United Nations is extensively involved in advocacy and implementation on a policy level of its Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy adopted in 2006. Parallel to such efforts, the role of the UN Security Council and its affiliates has been outstanding due to its effects at ground level mainly dealing with the al-Qaeda network.
On Jan. 14 and Jan. 28, media statements were dispatched by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group in Lebanon, which vowed to target Iran again. The same group — operating under the command of Majid al-Majid, a Saudi Arabian national who died on Jan. 4 while under arrest in Lebanon — claimed responsibility for the heinous terrorist attack targeting the Iranian Embassy and its staff in Beirut on Nov. 19, 2013. The attack claimed the lives of dozens of innocent Lebanese civilians and embassy staff including Ebrahim Ansari, the embassy's cultural attache.