Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Al Qaida has claimed responsibility for a major attack on Iranian interests in Lebanon.

Al Qaida’s Abdullah Azzam Brigades reported detonating two bombs outside
the Iranian embassy in Beirut. The suicide attacks on Nov. 19 killed at
least 23 people, including the embassy’s cultural attache, Ibrahim Ansari.

“It was a double martyrdom operation by two of the Sunni heroes of Lebanon,” Sheik Siraj Eddin Zuraiqat, the religious guide of Abdullah Azzam, said.

Lebanese sources said the bombings — in which nearly 150 people were also injured — marked the latest plot against Iranian interests in Lebanon. They said Islamist militias linked to Al Qaida have been targeting both Iran and its leading proxy, Hizbullah, in attacks
throughout Beirut.

The attack began when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up next to the gate of the Iranian embassy compound. Less than two minutes
later, the sources said, a car packed with 150 kilograms of explosives reached the gate and was detonated.

In its statement, Abdullah Azzam, established in 2004 and active in
Palestinian refugee camps, warned of additional attacks on Iran and
Hizbullah. The Sunni militia, which over the last decade claimed
responsibility for rocket attacks on Egypt, Israel and Jordan, demanded the
withdrawal of the estimated 10,000 Hizbullah troops from neighboring Syria.

Hizbullah has been struck at least three times in 2013. At one point,
Hizbullah took over law enforcement in southern Beirut to prevent car bombs.

“These kinds of explosions are a new and dangerous development,”
Lebanese parliamentarian Mohammed Raad, the Hizbullah whip, said.

  Abdullah Azzam Brigades, Al Qaida takes credit for bombing of Iranian embassy in Beirut, Mohammed Raad, Sheik Siraj Eddin Zuraiqat