It did not take too long for the violence of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) to reach Beirut. Last week, this column warned of the potential for further terrorism in Lebanon following the ISIS advances in Iraq and a string of supposedly isolated security incidents in the country. There was a car bombing late on June 23, a suicide attack, the arrests of dozens of alleged ISIS affiliates, news about terrorist networks and plots for major political assassinations and coup attempts.
Nevertheless, the hysteria caused by the fear of this terrorist group on the one hand, and the calculations of some to invest in this fear to serve political interests on the other — besides the multiple Lebanese and international parties following up on this issue — required a thorough examination to know exactly what happened in Beirut in the past few days.