A-Nusra calls Lebanon bombing ‘retaliatory measure’

AMMAN: The Lebanese branch of al-Qaeda offshoot Jabhat a-Nusra has claimed credit for a car bombing in the Lebanese town of Hermel that killed three on Saturday just miles from the border with Syria, as repercussions from Hezbollah’s intervention in the Syrian conflict on the regime’s behalf ripple throughout Lebanon.

Striking back at what it called the “party of Iran’s headquarters in [Hezbollah stronghold] Hermel,” Jabhat a-Nusra called “invasions to demolish their safe havens” as payback for Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria.

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As the sectarian rift grows in Lebanon, despite some Shiite opposition to Hezbollah intervention in Syria, “you will also see another instinct within the Shiite community which is a sense of threat from the outside and a desire to protect and close into [itself],” said Mona Yacoubian, a senior advisor at the Stimson Center’s Middle East program in Washington, DC.

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