Deadly Blasts in Lebanon Raise Fears of Sectarian Conflict

Deadly Blasts in Lebanon Raise Fears of Sectarian Conflict

By HWAIDA SAAD and DAVID JOLLY 

Explosions outside two Sunni mosques in the city of Tripoli on Friday killed more than two dozen people, a major escalation of violence in a country deeply unsettled by the war in neighboring Syria.

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  Northern Lebanon Rocked by Bomb Attacks

  

  • Omar Ibrahim/Reuters

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    Omar Ibrahim/Reuters

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    Associated Press

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    Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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    Omar Ibrahim/Reuters

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    Ibrahim Chalhoub/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

  

  A body was carried near a mosque following explosions in Tripoli.

  By HWAIDA SAAD and DAVID JOLLY

  Published: August 23, 2013

  
  

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  BEIRUT, Lebanon — Bombs exploded outside two Sunni mosques in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon on Friday as worshipers were leaving prayers, killing more than two dozen people and wounding hundreds, Lebanese media reported, a major escalation of violence in a country deeply unsettled by the conflict in neighboring Syria.
  
  
  The blasts hit the Taqua and Al-Salam mosques around 1:38 p.m., Future Television reported. The Lebanese Red Cross said at least 29 people were killed and more than 500 wounded.
  There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the blasts, but Future Television reported that the Taqua mosque was where Sheik Salem al-Rafei, an outspoken Sunni preacher, had inveighed against Hezbollah, the militant Shiite group that supports Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. The preacher also had exhorted worshipers to support the Sunni insurgency trying to topple Mr. Assad.
  It was not clear if the bombings had targeted the preacher personally.
  The Tripoli bombings came just over a week after a car bomb in a southern suburb of Beirut, in a Hezbollah stronghold, killed at least 27 people and wounded more than 300 others.
  Video of the scenes broadcast just minutes after the attacks showed thick smoke billowing across Tripoli, a Mediterranean port city. One video clip posted on YouTube showed angry crowds converged outside the smoking Taqua mosque.

  Video by Fares Syria

  A second video clip, apparently from a security camera inside the Al-Salam mosque, showed the precise moment of an enormous blast as worshipers were still praying.

  Video by lbcgroup

  Since the uprising started in Syria more than two years ago, fighting in Lebanon has flared sporadically, with Tripoli a tinderbox because of sectarian tensions similar to those across the border. The recurring street fights pit Sunni Muslims, who support the Syrian uprising, against members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Mr. Assad belongs.
  Hwaida Saad reported from Beirut and David Jolly from Paris.
   COPY http://www.washingtonpost.com/