The UN Security Council condemned on Wednesday
the explosion that targeted the region of Bir al-Abed in the Beirut Southern Suburbs Tuesday, calling on all the Lebanese people to preserve national unity and on all the Lebanese parties to respect the dissociation policy vis-à-vis the Syrian conflict in accordance with the Baabda Declaration.
The US deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo said that the council’s member states expressed their concern regarding the increase in shelling from Syria into Lebanon, and kidnappings and smuggling operations along the Lebanese-Syrian borders. She added that Washington sees Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian war “as an insult to the Lebanese government and the Baabda Declaration.”
At least
53 people were wounded in Tuesday's blast which, for some, was a worrying sign
that Syria's civil war is beginning to consume its smaller neighbor.
The car bomb struck
a bustling commercial and residential neighborhood in Bir el-Abed, an area of
particularly strong Hezbollah support, as many Lebanese Shiites began observing
the holy month of Ramadan.
The blast went off
in a parking lot near the Islamic Coop, a supermarket usually packed with
shoppers.
One man wounded in
the blast said on Wednesday that the explosion was targeting the resistance,
but that "God willing, morale is high."
While there was no
immediate claim of responsibility, there have been growing fears in Lebanon
that Hezbollah could face retaliation for its now overt role fighting alongside
Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops.
Bir el-Abed is only
few hundred yards (meters) from what is known as Hezbollah's "security
square," where many of the party's officials live and have offices.
It was heavily
bombed by Israeli warplanes during the month-long war between Israel and
Hezbollah in 2006.
The area, where
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah once received dignitaries before the 2006
war, was completely destroyed by Israeli airstrikes.
Nasrallah has since
gone underground, only rarely appearing in public and never for more than few
minutes, fearing Israeli assassination.
The explosion in
the heart of Hezbollah's bastion of support raised the worrying specter of
Lebanon being pulled into the violent Sunni-Shiite struggle in the region, with
sectarian killings similar to those plaguing Syria and Iraq.
The Syrian
conflict, now in its third year, is whipping up sectarian fervor.
Sunni-Shiite
tensions have risen sharply, particularly since Hezbollah raised its profile by
openly fighting alongside Assad's forces.
Lebanese Sunnis
support the Syrian rebels fighting to topple Assad.
REUTERS/LBCI