In the past few days, Lebanon’s security scene witnessed significant developments. It started with a double suicide attack in a prominent Alawite neighborhood of Tripoli, continued with a crackdown on Islamist prisoners in Lebanon's largest prison and ended with terrorist organizations threatening official Lebanese authorities and Hezbollah. These three developments pose more than one question on what happened and what might happen in the coming days in Lebanon.
The first development took place in Jabal Mohsen, the Alawite neighborhood in the predominantly Sunni city of Tripoli, Lebanon's second most populous city after Beirut. On the evening of Jan. 10, two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a street where a number of cafes are found that are frequented mostly by Alawite customers. From the way the blasts took place, it was clear that the objective was to cause the highest number of civilian casualties. The first suicide bomber walked into a crowded cafe and blew himself up. The second suicide bomber waited until people had gathered to help the injured, joined the crowd and blew himself up, too. This incident killed nine and injured nearly 40.
