Two Rockets Hit Beirut's Southern Suburbs
Sunday morning, May 26, two rockets hit Beirut's predominantly Shiite southern suburbs, in what some see as the Syria conflict increasingly encroaching on Lebanon.
In a security escalation that is the first of its kind since the end of the Lebanese Civil War in 1990, on Sunday [May 26] two rockets fell on a neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs. Initial reports indicate that four people were injured.
However, the political and security consequences of this event could far surpass [the human casualties], given the following background factors:
First, the area in which the rockets fell is populated by Lebanese Shiites. This area lies within the geographic scope of Hezbollah's traditional stronghold.
Second, this serious incident came a few hours after the televised speech of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, in which he openly declared that Hezbollah was involved in the armed conflict in Syria, against what he called "takfiris." This came a few days after Hezbollah admitted that a large number of their fighters were killed or injured in Qusair, a Syrian city close to the Lebanese region of Hermel, which is also occupied by Shiites.
