Two explosions rocked the Iranian Embassy compound in Beirut on Tuesday killing at least 23 people and injuring scores, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The Iranian ambassador, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, confirmed on Al Manar television that the cultural attaché, identified as Sheikh Ibrahim Ansari, was among the dead.
The attack seemed to fit a pattern of deepening political and sectarian division across the region inspired by the civil war in Syria. Syria’s conflict has drawn in fighters from neighboring Lebanon on both sides, with Sunni militants flocking to fight alongside rebels and Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite organization allied with Iran, sending its militiamen to support President Bashar al-Assad.
The bombings came as Syrian state media reported that the government had taken control of a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border, Qara, amid a widening army offensive that includes battles around Damascus, the capital, and the northern city of Aleppo and has increased tensions in Lebanon.
