A large explosion rocked a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah group south of the Lebanese capital Tuesday, setting several cars on fire, sending a thick plume of black smoke billowing into the sky and wounding at least 18 people, security officials said.
The powerful blast in a bustling commercial and residential neighborhood came as many Lebanese Shiites began observing the holy month of Ramadan, and is the worst explosion to hit the area in years — likely direct fallout of the civil war raging in neighboring Syria.
With skirmishes between Shiites and Sunnis on the rise around the country, religiously mixed and dangerously fragile Lebanon is increasingly buffeted by powerful forces that are dividing the Arab world along sectarian lines. Some Syrian rebel groups, which are predominantly Sunni, have threatened to strike in Lebanon after Hezbollah joined Syrian President Bashar Assad’s troops in their battle against opposition fighters.
Al-Manar and security officials said 18 people were wounded. Red Cross head of operations George Kattaneh put the number at 37, saying they were all light injuries, many of them from breaking glass.
The area is near what is known as Hezbollah’s “security square” where many of the party’s officials live and have offices. Tuesday’s explosion is one of the biggest in the area since the end of the country’s 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990.
A massive car bomb blast shook a stronghold of Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah militant group Hezbollah in southern Beirut on Tuesday, leaving at least 37 people wounded, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
Lebanese security sources told Reuters that they were unable to confirm initial reports from medics at the scene that an unspecified number had been killed in the blast.
Tensions in Lebanon have been high following the intervention of Hezbollah in support of President Bashar Assad's forces fighting a two-year revolt led by Syria's Sunni Muslim majority.
A Reuters reporter on the scene saw a large fire raging at the site of the blast, which apparently targeted a shopping mall in the Bir al-Abed area. The area is also home to many Hezbollah political offices.
A pillar of dense black smoke billowed above surrounding high-rise apartment blocks. Ambulances and fire engines sped through the streets to rescue casualties.
Hezbollah gunmen cordoned off the area of the blast, which damaged cars and buildings. Fires were raging from dozens of cars which were set ablaze in the parking lot where the car rigged with explosives was left.
The holy Muslim month of Ramadan beginning in the Middle East Tuesday, July 9, heralds more, rather than less, bloodshed. After at least 51 deaths in a Cairo shootout Monday, Egypt’s military chief Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi rebuffed US diplomatic efforts to bring the various political forces in the country around the table for dialogue. The high military council is divided on this: One faction urges a relentless crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and its deposed president; a second, led by Gen. El-Sisi, says they mustn’t be cowed by the backlash to Monday’s incident, but should keep the political process for a new and stable government on track
Provisional President Justice Adli Mansour issued a decree Tuesday for elections to a new parliament in February 2014, followed immediately by voting for a new president. He did not fix a precise date. No one expects this decree to tranquilize the turmoil in the country or deter the Brothers from an uprising (intifada) declared against the powers that unseated them after Egyptian soldiers shot dead at least 51 of their supporters.
In parallel, the military is also deploying for a major offensive to curb the armed Salafi Bedouin rampant in Sinai and now harnessed to the Brotherhoods uprising. The generals believe this center of revolt must be nipped in the bud without delay for the sake of confining the MB uprising to mainland Egypt.
To this end, heavy military reinforcements were seen pouring into Sinai in the early hours of Tuesday. The urgency of cutting down the Brotherhood’s capabilities for making trouble was attested to by the risk the Egyptian army took by withdrawing substantial military strength from the Suez Canal towns of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez and redeploying them in Sinai. They acted on the assumption that, in the short term, the Brothers would concentrate their defiance on street protests and clashes with the army to Cairo.
Maj. Gen. Ahmad Wasfi, head of the Second Army, arrived Monday in the northern Sinai town of El Arish to set up a command center for the forthcoming campaign against the Islamist opposition and its allies, the Salafist networks linked to al Qaeda and the radical Palestinian Hamas.
The outbreaks in Egypt this week overshadowed the disastrous situation in Syria.
The outbreaks in Egypt this week overshadowed the disastrous situation in Syria.
Syrian army and Hizballah are in the final stages of preparations for their big push to liquidate rebel strongholds in Aleppo and recapture Syria’s second city.
Syrian President Bashar Assad decided to go ahead with this offensive despite the onset of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from sunup to sundown for a month.
Iran and Moscow are speeding extra military and arms supplies to aid this effort by airlift. Refusing to brook any further delays in the battle for Aleppo, Assad turned down a proposal by UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon’s and the new Syrian opposition president Ahmad Jabra to declare a bilateral ceasefire for the month of Ramadan.
The Muslim Brotherhood called for mass protests on Tuesday, a day after at least 51 people were killed when the Egyptian army opened fire on supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi outside the military barracks where he is believed to be held.
News agencies said 435 were wounded in the incident, mostly from rifle rounds and birdshot.
The Egyptian interim government expressed “deep regret” for those killed in the violence. The administration said in a statement on state TV that a committee was formed to investigate the incidents.
The army released what appears to be video evidence of said attacks.
“The armed forces always deal with issues very wisely, but there is certainly also a limit to patience,” said military spokesman Ahmed Ali during a press conference Monday.
Following the violence, the Salafist al-Nour Party, a key Islamist group, which has supported the army’s “road map” following Morsi’s ouster, said it was cutting off talks with the military on entering the interim government being formed, following the ”massacre” earlier in the day, a spokesperson for the group said.
A video posted on MEMRI TV shows Islamist supporters addressing army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi threatening “martyrdom.”
“Beware, you have created a new Taliban and a new al-Qaeda in Egypt, all these masses will split into suicide squads and will destroy you and Egypt… It is you who has created terrorism… it is you who has started a civil war in Egypt… It is you who signed the death certificates of the National Salvation Front and its members, and the Tamarud rebels, and all those who oppose Morsi,” says one protester.
In the clip, a female demonstrator warns Egypt’s Christian minority, “You are our neighbors; we will set you on fire.”
More than 60 Iranians have been executed since the recent presidential elections on June 14th, opposition and human rights activists told Arutz Sheva. Activists condemned the elections themselves as a "sham", given that the Iranian "Supreme Leader" Ayatolla Khameini hand-picked the list of elligible candidates.
The number of those executed by the regime since the election now stands at 61, including 6 women and a young man who was just 15 at the time of his arrest. Executions in the cities of Ahvaz, Shahrekord and Karaj were carried out in full view of the public.
The wave of executions appears to belie predictions by some commentators that Iran is entering into an era of moderation after the election of Hassan Rouhani, hailed as a "moderate" by much of the Western media. Other commentators have noted that Rouhani is part of the ruling regime's inner circle, - he was only allowed to run after a careful vetting process by the Supreme Leader - and dismissed his image as a "moderate" as little more than a ruse by the regime to buy more time as it continues its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Also see:
1 comment:
NOW THW DOW is above 15 300....
it seems the GREED game never ends.
looking at the DAX, the FTSE, and the NIKKEI in Japan, and one can
easily make the case for a GLOBAL
CRASH with a three down coming up
in all these.
NY stocks are a different story, they may GO to records but I doubt
it will last.....NOT with the others mentioned going into crash
mode.
This is a perfect time for AC to be
revealed. Wall Street bulls would
NEVER SUSPECT who he really is,
in fact, I could say that about
almost every human on the planet.
unless of course you are saved and
know the REAL TRUTH.
Stephen >>>>>>>>>>>
Post a Comment