ISIS struck deep into Beirut's southern suburbs Thursday, killing at least 43 people and wounding over 200 in one of the deadliest spillovers into Lebanon of the nearly 5-year-old civil war in Syria.
In claiming responsibility for the twin suicide bombings that ripped through the southern Beirut suburb of Burj al-Barajneh, ISIS vowed more attacks against Shiite areas where Hezbollah enjoys wide support.
The blasts, which came as the Syrian army, backed by Hezbollah fighters, was making military advances against Islamist militants in the province of Aleppo, raised fears that ISIS is bent on retaliating for Hezbollah's military intervention in the Syrian war on the side of embattled President Bashar Assad's forces.
A witness told The Daily Star that crowds of people began to gather after hearing an explosion outside a coffee stand in the neighborhood of Ain al-Sikke when a second blast went off about 30 meters away near a bakery.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam declared Friday a day of mourning, describing the attack as "cowardly" and calling on Lebanese to unite.
Hussein Khalil, a top aide to Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, speaking to reporters at the blast site, said the attack would not weaken Hezbollah's battle against takfiri groups, which, he said, would be long.
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