BEIRUT, Lebanon – Just three days before Lebanon’s most recent bomb attacks, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah reiterated his commitment to keeping fighters in Syria.
“We will remain where we should be, our policy hasn't changed," declared Nasrallah, whose large and powerful Iranian-backed organization has fighters in Syria on the side of Bashar Assad’s regime.
The twin bombs that followed his words killed 11 people and injured 128 in one of Beirut’s southern Shiite neighborhoods, just down the street from al-Manar, Hezbollah’s own television channel.
The attacks last Wednesday were just the latest in more than a dozen such bombings targeting Shiite neighborhoods where Hezbollah holds sway, as the war in Syria gushes into Lebanon.
One of the groups fighting back against Hezbollah’s role in Syria is the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a Lebanese group with links to al-Qaeda.
In response to Nasrallah’s declaration the Azzam Brigades, which claims a number of bombings and says it was behind an attack in November on Beirut's Iranian embassy that killed 23, did not remain silent. It vowed: “We will continue - through the grace of God and his strength, to target Iran and its party in Lebanon (Hezbollah).
Its demands, said the group, were simple: “One, the exit of all fighters from the Party of Iran (Hezbollah) in Syria; two, the release of all our prisoners from oppressive Lebanese prisons.”
"This is not happening in isolation," says Salman Shaikh, the director of the Brookings Doha Center, noting the growing violence in Lebanon and its link to the war in Syria.
“Whatever borders there were between these two countries, they've melted away and we're going to continue to see this," he adds, referring to Syria-fueled violence in Lebanon.
In addition to the attacks that have heightened insecurity in Lebanon, the fallout from the nearly three-year crisis in Syria has crippled Lebanon's economy and disrupted the country's delicate social balance.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees have poured across the Lebanese border, many in search of shelter and a livelihood, all in search of safety.
The UN's refugee agency estimates that there are nearly one million Syrian refugees in Lebanon: That would mean 20 percent of the population.
Lebanon’s political process has also been disrupted. The crisis in Syria was one of the main obstacles delaying the formation of a Lebanese government. The paralysis finally ended last week when parliament announced the formation of a government of national interest, following a 10-month deadlock.
As the new Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam announced the political deal on live television, he said security would be a top priority for the incoming politicians.
"We must also deal with our complicated economic and social issues" he added, "the most important of which is the growing number of refugees from our Syrian brothers and the burdens this has placed on Lebanon."
But few believe the weak Lebanese government is capable of dealing with these issues on its own.
"Syria has acted as a catalyst for an arc of conflict that stretches from Lebanon down to Iraq," says Shaikh, of Brookings Doha. He adds he is not optimistic about Lebanon’s future as long as there is violence next door
"As the situation in Syria worsens -- and I think it will -- I think the effects of that will only make things worse in Lebanon."
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