(Times of Israel) Avi Issacharoff - Anyone in the Shi'ite community in Lebanon knows who was responsible for Thursday's attack in Hizbullah's stronghold of Beirut. Extremist Sunni groups operating as part of the Syrian opposition made good on their promise to strike at Hizbullah and its supporters on their home turf. Yet despite this, a whole host of Lebanese politicians rushed to charge that Israel was involved, including President Michel Suleiman, who claimed that the blast bore the fingerprints of the Israelis. Suleiman is worried that an attack like this will prompt a particularly violent Hizbullah retaliation. In pointing the finger at Israel, he is trying to manufacture a common enemy for all Lebanese. Suleiman, who only days ago demanded the disarming of Hizbullah, understands that the response to an attack like this could eventually lead to a complete takeover by Hizbullah in Lebanon. Thursday's car bombing was only the beginning for those terror groups associated with al-Qaeda who see the Shi'ites - no less than the Jews and Christians - as their enemy. Nasrallah may be starting to realize that he is now at odds with the only people in the Middle East whose mindset may be even more pernicious than his own.
2013-08-16 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive