Lebanon: Fault Line for Hezbollah's War on 'Takfiris' in Syria
Just hours after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah announced that his party was fighting “takfiris” in Syria, two rockets struck a Shiite neighborhood in Beirut, suggesting that those “takfiris” might have military capabilities in Lebanon.
With the fall of two rockets (a third failed to launch due to a malfunction) last week on the Shiite-majority Chiyyah neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon has entered a new phase of rising tension that threatens to import the conflict in Syria between Jabhat al-Nusra and the Syrian opposition on the one hand and Hezbollah on the other.
The rockets were fired from Bsaba in Mount Lebanon toward Chiyyah, an Amal and Hezbollah stronghold.
The rockets were fired only hours after Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah announced in a speech the party’s decision to fight in Syria alongside the Syrian regime. This means that military cells that support the Syrian regime are present in Lebanon and can carry out attacks at any time they are ordered.
According to Lebanese security forces, the attack had been expected for several days. It was considered likely that Jabhat al-Nusra might retaliate for Hezbollah’s participation in the fighting in Syria.
