There was a huge explosion today in Hezbollah's Lebanon stronghold in southern Beirut.
A powerful car bomb killed an estimated 20 people and wounded many more.
A Sunni group calling itself the Aisha Umm-al Mouemeneen (Brigades of Aisha) claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Shortly after the attack, an online video surfaced showing three masked men, two of them holding rifles, in front of a white flag inscribed with the Islamic shaheedah, the profession of faith.
"We... send a message to [Hezbollah chief] Hassan Nasrallah's pigs," said one of the men, wearing a white mask.They then claimed responsibility for the attack and promised more operations against Hezbollah.
"This is the second time that we decide the time and place of the battle ... And you will see more, God willing," the Brigades of Aisha statement said, describing Hezbollah and Nasrallah as Iranian agents.
"We send a message to our brothers in Lebanon, we ask you to stay away from all the Iranian colonies in Lebanon ... because your blood is precious to us," a masked spokesman, flanked by two men brandishing rifles, said in the video.
"But Hassan Nasrallah is an agent of Iran and Israel and we promise him more and more (attacks)."
Now just by coincidence, it was only a sew days ago that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrullah
went on Lebanese TV to claim that a blast that wounded four Israeli soldiers on the border was a Hezbollah ambush.
In a live interview with Lebanese television station Al-Mayadeen this week, Nasrallah said that two remote-control bombs detonated inside Lebanon when the Israeli force crossed the border. He said Hezbollah members knew in advance the Israelis were coming and planted the bombs in a deliberate plan to target them.
"It was a closely monitored and deliberate operation," Nasrallah said. "It was not an accident, and the explosion certainly wasn't caused by an Israeli landmine," he added, referring to Israeli reports that the Israel Defense Forces soldiers had accidentally activated a mine near the border.
There are a few interesting things about that claim by Nasrallah. The border is very well marked, since the Israelis actually went to the UN to demarcate it when they withdrew from South Lebanon. The Israelis doesn't cross it, under ordinary circusstances and especially not with a small patrol like that. And there's no conceivable way Nasrallah and his friends could have 'known in advance' where the small patrol was going to go - unless Hezbollah planted the bombs in advance on Israel's side of the border and either deliberately staged some activity to lure a small patrol there to check something out or simply planted the bombs and just waited for an opportunity to set them off.
That makes sense in view of Hezbollah's increasing unpopularity in Lebanon due to their full on intervention in Syria's civil war. They've been seeking to play the 'Israel card' lately in an effort to regain some cred on the Lebanese street, and Nasrallah's little chest thumping screed on Lebanese TV that revealed Hezbollah's participation might very well have been part of that.
So, was this a bit of payback by Israel? Hard to say. They normally like more surgical retaliation. Car bombs that also indiscriminately target civilians are not their usual method. Could they merely have been taking advantage of of this anti-Hezbollah Sunni groups' activities? Again, who knows? The Israelis, as usual , have no comment and even if they denied it it's doubtful it would be believed in the conspiracy theory loving Arab world.
One the bright side, the Lebanese will blame Nasrallah for opening his big fat mouth and claiming responsibility for something the IDF was willing to write off as an accident. And Israel's reputation for being able to hit back here, there and everywhere has been enhanced, whether the Mossad had anything to do with this or not.
But it is ironic that Hezbollah, one of the most vicious terrorist groups on the planet is now being victimized by the very tactics it introduced into Lebanon back in the 1980's.
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