AP reports: “Iran’s Foreign Minister blamed Israel for the attacks. Hezbollah and Syrian officials indirectly blamed Saudi Arabia, the Sunni Arab kingdom that along with fellow Gulf nation Qatar has been a major backer of Syria’s rebels.

“‘Each of the terrorist attacks that strike in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq reek of petrodollars,’ a Syrian government statement said, in a clear reference to oil-rich Gulf Arab countries.

“The Abdullah Azzam Brigades [an al-Qaeda-linked group operating in Lebanon] claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attacks, saying they would continue until Hezbollah withdraws its forces from Syria.” CNN noted the group “also demanded the release of its members being held prisoner in Lebanon.”

RADWAN MORTADA, [Lebanon is 7 hours ahead of U.S. ET] mortadaradwan at gmail.com, @radwanmortada
A journalist with Al-Akhbar in Lebanon, Mortada wrote a two part series on Abdullah Azzam Brigades, sometimes called Al-Qaeda in Lebanon: “Searching for Al-Qaeda in Lebanon (I): Coming of Age” and “Searching for Al-Qaeda in Lebanon (II): An Emir for Greater Syria.”

MALAK KHALED, malak20_02 at hotmail.com, @Malakhaled
Khaled is a reporter for Al-Mayadeen Network and teaches at the Lebanese International University.

RANIA MASRI, rania.z.masri at gmail.com, @rania_masri
Masri is assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Balamand in Lebanon. She said today: “Many media organizations that routinely use the word ‘terrorist’ are not doing it for this attack, even though it was clearly a civilian target and for political purposes. Abdullah Azzam Brigades in their claim of responsibility cited release of their prisoners held in Lebanon.

“It might seem strange to hear Saudi Arabia and Israel accused of backing the same bombing, but it shouldn’t. There’s an effective alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia in the region and one of the tragedies of it is to deepen sectarian divides which groups like al-Qaeda in Lebanon feed off of. See As’ad AbuKhalil’s excellent recent piece ‘Background of the Saudi-Israeli Alliance.'”

Masri was recently interviewed on The Real News. Also see past related releases Masri has been featured on regarding Lebanon: “Why Isn’t Beirut Bombing Called “Terrorist”? What’s Behind It?” and “‘Impossible to Choose Good Guys’ as Rebel Army Claims Responsibility for Beirut Bombing.”