Targeting Hizbullah: Who is Behind the Dahiyeh Bombing?

By: Ibrahim al-Amin

Al-Akhbar -July 10, 2013

Sooner or later, the party behind the Dahiyeh car bomb on Tuesday, July 9, will be discovered - whether it chooses to declare its responsibility openly or is discovered by the authorities investigating the incident.

Hizbullah has always been fully aware that it would be made to pay a heavy price for its position on the Syrian crisis, not to mention its central role in the resistance front that stretches well beyond Lebanon's borders to Palestine and Iran.

The party knew well that there are plenty of Western and Arab forces prepared to lend assistance to like-minded local parties to carry out attacks on the Resistance. And when the auction is open, there will be many takers, with Israel first in line to offer all it can to anyone ready to strike a blow against its most formidable foe.

Hizbullah's many enemies have made the ridiculous calculation that given their inability to inflict harm directly on the party or enter into a confrontation with it, why not resort to other - equally painful - methods to destroy the Resistance, along the following lines:

First, adopt a campaign of incitement against Hizbullah that suggests that, due its actions, the party has become a liability to its supporters and the Lebanese people generally, characterizing it as a terrorist organization that has subjugated the country to its will by force of arms.

And when the auction is open, there will be many takers, with Israel first in line to offer all it can to anyone ready to strike a blow against its most formidable foe.
Second, prey on divisions between Sunnis and Shia so as to isolate them from one another socially, economically, and culturally, using all means at their disposal, including the mosques and media, to spread lies and sectarian hatred against the Resistance.

Third, continue to appeal to foreign powers to help them deal a blow to the party. After the open treason they committed in 2006, Hizbullah's local enemies will not hesitate in turning to the devil himself - Washington, "Israel", local Takfiri groups - if that's what will get the job done.

Just as they blamed the Resistance for the recent battle between Ahmad al-Assir and the army in Saida, they are now working hard to pin the Dahiyeh explosion on it, as a way to encourage the criminal who planted the bomb to continue until their seemingly impossible mission is complete, regardless of the consequences.

The Dahiyeh incident recalls a similar bombing that targeted the party's spiritual leader, [His Eminence late Sayyed]Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, on 8 March 1985. Fadlallah survived the attack, but 90 residents of the area lost their lives.

It was later discovered that the operation was carried out by local CIA operatives and financed by Saudi Arabia by way of the kingdom's ambassador in Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who now heads the country's intelligence services. The information was confirmed in Bob Woodward's book, Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, by then-CIA director, William Casey.

Tuesday's attack occurred no more than a few dozen meters from the deadly bombing 28 years ago. But Hizbullah has accustomed us to raise the stakes on those who commit such atrocities against it so that they think twice about repeating them. The criminals who planned and executed the bombing should know they will never be safe again, regardless of where they are on this earth.