Lebanon blasts hit Iran's embassy in Beirut

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BBC Arabic's Carine Torbey: "The scale of the damage is huge"

At least 22 people have been killed and more than 140 injured in a double suicide bombing outside the Iranian embassy in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

There are conflicting reports as to whether the Iranian cultural attache died in the attack.
Iran is a major backer of the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah, which has sent fighters to Syria to back the government of Bashar al-Assad.

The Sunni jihadist group Abdullah Azzam Brigades said it was behind the attack.
The head of the al-Qaeda-linked group described the attack as a "double martyrdom operation carried out by two heroes from the heroic Sunnis of Lebanon".

The conflict in Syria has increased sectarian tensions in its smaller neighbour.

Analysis

Paul Wood BBC News, Beirut
The number of people killed makes this one of the worst attacks in Shia southern Beirut since the war across the border in Syria began - but it is, most significantly, the first attack on an Iranian target.
"Was this payback for Iran's support for President Assad?" I asked a Hezbollah member of parliament, who'd come to see the damage. "Yes, certainly," he told me, and an action that could light fresh fires in Lebanon, he went on, anxiously.
The attack comes as the Syrian army is carrying out a major offensive to cut off the rebels' last supply routes into Lebanon. For the Syrian rebel movement, these are desperate times - the regime's boot is on their throat, held there with Iranian assistance.
The attack on the embassy has been claimed by a Lebanese group, but one fighting in Syria with the rebels. If it was responsible, the Iranians have many resources inside Lebanon to hit back.

Lebanese Sunni Muslim fighters have joined forces with the mainly Sunni rebels in Syria. Some of the rebel groups are affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Syria's President Assad comes from the Alawite sect, a heterodox offshoot of Shia Islam.

The BBC's Paul Wood, in Beirut, says the number of people killed in Tuesday's attack makes it one of the worst in Shia southern Beirut since the war across the border in Syria began.
But more significantly, he says, it is the first attack on an Iranian target.

The Iranian ambassador in Beirut had earlier confirmed cultural attache Ebrahim Ansari's death to Hezbollah's al-Manar TV, saying it was not clear if he had been in the embassy itself or one of the residential buildings nearby.
However, the Iranian foreign ministry now says he is alive.
Mr Ansari had only taken up his post a month ago.

BBC Arabic's Carine Torbey, who is at the scene, says security forces are still trying to rescue anyone who may be trapped in the rubble, while Hezbollah fighters are searching everyone who wants to enter the area.

Lebanese officials said the first suicide attacker was on a motorcycle, while the second was in a four-wheel drive vehicle.

Reuters new agency quotes Lebanese officials as saying CCTV footage showed a man rushing towards the outer wall of the Iranian embassy before blowing himself up, causing the first blast.

Syria crisis spills into Lebanon

May 2012: Fighting between pro- and anti-Assad groups in Lebanese Tripoli and Beirut leave many dead
August 2012: Deadly sectarian clashes break out in Tripoli
October 2012: Several people killed in gunfights after the assassination of top security official General Wissam al-Hassan, a Sunni opponent of Damascus
May 2013: At least 15 people die in another round of sectarian violence in Tripoli
June 2013: At least 17 soldiers killed in clashes with supporters of radical Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir in the southern city of Sidon
9 July 2013: A car bomb wounds dozens in a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut
15 August 2013: A car bomb kills 27 people and injures hundreds more in a Shia area of south Beirut
23 August 2013: More than 40 people killed and 400 injured in two blasts outside mosques in Tripoli

The Iranian ambassador blamed Israel for the attack - an accusation Israel swiftly rejected.

Tzachi Hanegbi, a member of the foreign affairs and defence committee in the Israeli parliament, said Israel played "no part" in the incident.

The Syrian government condemned the attack, as did UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, saying: "The UK is strongly committed to supporting stability in Lebanon and seeing those responsible for this attack brought to justice."

Iran and Lebanon are due to play a football match in Beirut as scheduled on Tuesday evening, but without spectators, Lebanese media report.

South Beirut, including the area around the Iranian embassy, is considered a Hezbollah stronghold. It has been hit by several attacks in recent months.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called the attack "a cowardly terrorist act", Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.

"The aim of the blast is to stir up the situation in Lebanon and use the Lebanese arena to convey messages," he said.

This is not the first time the Syrian conflict has spilled over into violence in Lebanon.
On 15 August, 27 people were killed in a car bomb in south Beirut believed to have been targeting a Sunni Muslim cleric opposed to Hezbollah. The cleric was unhurt.

Later in August, more than 40 people were killed in two blasts outside mosques in Tripoli.
Syrian rebels beaten back

Meanwhile, inside Syria, the government appears to be winning its attempt to cut off one of the rebels' last remaining supply routes across the Lebanese border.

The Syrian army has taken control of the town of Qara after three days of fighting.
The rebel group Jabat al-Nusra declared that it and other rebel forces had withdrawn.
The Syrian government now controls the road linking the coast to the capital.

The rebel-held suburbs around Damascus, which are already under siege and bombardment, will now be under even more pressure.