Israel Matzav

Video from Beirut embassy bomb blast

Here's video from Tuesday morning's bomb blast at the Iranian embassy in Beirut. So far, 23 people are dead and 146 injured.

Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip for video: MFS - The Other News).



This is from the first link.

Security camera footage showed a man in an explosives belt rushing towards the outer wall of the embassy before blowing himself up, Lebanese officials said. They said the second explosion was caused by a car bomb parked two buildings away from the compound.

In a Twitter post, Sheikh Sirajeddine Zuraiqat, the religious guide of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, said the group had carried out the attack. "It was a double martyrdom operation by two of the Sunni heroes of Lebanon," he wrote.

Shi'ite Iran actively supports Syrian President Bashar Assad against Sunni Muslim rebels, who are backed and armed by Sunni powers Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Syrian rebel groups, some linked to al-Qaida, have threatened to take their battle from Syria to Lebanon in response to the military involvement of Iran and its Lebanese Shi'ite guerrilla ally Hezbollah alongside Assad's forces.

Iran's cultural attache to Lebanon was killed in the blast.

Israel has completely denied any involvement.

Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi on Tuesday rejected a claim by Iran's Ambassador to Beirut that Israel was behind twin blasts that killed at least 23 people, including an Iranian diplomat in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday.

Hanegbi said that it was quite humorous that a country that has perpetuated terror around the world, now is blaming others.

His comments came after Al Jazeera reported that "the Iranian ambassador in Lebanon, who escaped from the attack uninjured, is blaming Israel for the attack."

Hanegbi responded, "We are blamed for anything that happens in the Middle East. Sometimes these are things we take responsibility for because they have to do with Israel's security. But Israel's security gains nothing by bloodshed in Beirut or in any Arab capital or state, and is the result of tension in Lebanon following the decision of Hezbollah - or Iran forcing Hezbollah - to participate in [Syrian President Bashar] Assad's effort to survive in Syria.

Israel has nothing to with this attack or any recent bomb attacks in Lebanon, Hanegbi added.

 Hmmm.

Labels: Beirut, Hezbullah, Iran, Iranian embassy, Lebanon

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:14 PM