The hot breeze of an expected war between Hezbollah and al-Qaeda is hitting the region. This is not news to many, with both groups losing fighters on a daily basis in Syria, where merciless battles are being fought. The news is that this war will no longer be kept within Syrian borders, rather, it’ll take place wherever both groups have a presence. The Thursday, Aug. 15, bombing in Beirut’s southern suburb, Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s stronghold, is a clear example of what’s on the way.

Carnage in Dahiyeh meant that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s planned speech on Friday, Aug. 16, had to be changed. Just a few hundred meters from the southern borders, Nasrallah’s commemoration of the seventhth anniversary of the 2006 war with Israel was transformed due to the previous day’s bombing into a sizzling speech that opened fire on both Israel and al-Qaeda.

"Targeting Dahiyeh and the supporters of the resistance is not something new," said Nasrallah angrily, adding, "The goal of the explosion was to kill civilians, it did not target a certain Hezbollah official, center or institution.

Nasrallah suggested there were two theories for the explosion. The first points the finger at Israel and the second at takfiri groups. He added, “But there is a third hypothesis which stipulates that another group has interfered to escalate tension with Israel and to provoke internal strife."