So who targeted the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon?

[malaise]

22 dead including the Cultural Attache.

I wonder - hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24997876

[MADem]

1. Hard to know from the information provided.

It would help to know what kind of device was used to light that thing off--was it a stick-and-run motorcycle-delivered device, or wired into the vehicle?

There was the "Tsarnaev double-tap" (it's not theirs but we're most familiar with their use of the tactic) with a second explosion to get more people running away from the first one--that's an 'insurgent' methodology.

Iran is not short of people who have been taking issue with them, particularly in the Sunni world. We're in a phase of real sect-intolerant behavior when it comes to Muslims in the Middle East. So, it might be coming from fairly close to home, timed so that there are lots of folks that might be blamed. It might not be accurate for speculators to be too quick to pin the effort on a larger actor on the world stage, trying to push Iran this way or that.

[Archae]

2. Donchu know?

It's Israel's fault.

Even if it's factional fighting like you mention?
That's still Israel's fault.

'Cause the Jews are to blame for EVERYTHING!

Goebbels said so.

[cali]

3. I don't think the OP said that, but if you believe that's the point,

why not directly ask her?

[Archae]

5. It's inevitable, someone is going to blame Israel.

I see it just about every time.

This is the "double tap" -type bombing, two bombs, one to get people running, the second to kill those running.

That M. O. used to be notorious from Eric Rudolph, the "christian" 1996 Olympics bomber.

But the technique has been used by many groups.

[oberliner]

12. Iran Blames Israel for Beirut Blasts

23 people were killed and 146 others were injured in twin bomb explosions outside the Iranian Embassy in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Tuesday.

A few hours later, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Marziyeh Afkham strongly condemned the attack as "an inhuman action", and said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran takes the Zionists and their mercenaries responsible for this action."

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13920828001467

[MADem]

8. I'm not ready to go there without more information.

I realize they are unhappy about the rapprochement efforts between Teheran and Washington, but that kind of response is kind of clumsy for them, and they have a very deft hand. They have some of the finest operatives in the world--very professional, very subtle, and this seems amateurish to me, almost like someone is trying to suggest it is them but they don't have the skillset to pull it off.

For all we know at this point, it could be someone from within Lebanon who is pissed at the way Iran is bleeding off Lebanese blood and treasure via Hizb'allah recruitments to go do battle in Syria. Or it could be someone from AQ warning Iran to stop funneling money to Hizb'allah to fund those fighters.

Too many possibilities and too little information thus far on the details of the incident.

[hobbit709]

4. Cui bono?

[cali]

6. It's not always about cui bono. Sometimes it's just about

hate and revenge.

[hobbit709]

7. when hate and revenge are continually fed, someone benefits.

[cali]

9. no. not always.

and in any case, doing something out of hate and for revenge is a different motivation than doing something because it may be of some benefit.

[Archae]

11. I'm reminded of a Doonesbury cartoon...

A soldier in Iraq is drving with an Iraqi, and the Iraqi sees someone who he claims killed someone in his family, so he wants revenge.

The soldier asks the Iraqi when this happened, the Iraqi says in the 14th century.

The soldier asks "What is wrong with you people?"

[cali]

10. so who do you think targeted it? You obviously have some

thoughts on it.

Tell us.

[oberliner]

13. Al-Qaeda Group in Lebanon Claims Responsibility

An al-Qaeda-linked group in Lebanon claimed responsibility for an attack Tuesday on the Iranian embassy in southern Beirut that killed 23 people, including an Iranian cultural attaché.

The dual blasts outside the fortified compound injured 146 people, the Health Ministry said. Lebanese television cited Iranian diplomatic sources as saying none of the staff inside the embassy was hurt, Reuters reports.

The obscure group Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack in a post on Twitter and on a militant website. The group said it will continue the attacks until the Iranian-backed Shi`ite group Hezbollah withdraws its fighters from the Syrian civil war.

Violence from neighboring Syria’s two-and-a-half-year civil war has spilled over into Lebanon in recent months as Shi`ite supporters of Iranian-backed President Bashar Assad, and Sunni supporters of the rebel groups in Syria, which include al Qaeda affiliates, carry on a proxy battle in Lebanon.

http://world.time.com/2013/11/19/al-qaeda-group-in-lebanon-claims-responsibility-for-iran-embassy-bombing/#ixzz2l6WIPIwO