The Tripoli Explosion: Muslim Fundamentalists Or Syria?

Like in the aftermath of many terrorist activities before it, the Lebanese will be divided over who is behind the bus bombing in the northern city.

(Reuters)

Whenever a terrorist event like the bus explosion in Tripoli this morning takes place, the Lebanese, depending on their biases, immediately look in two different directions.


Two culprits



Those who are inclined to see the destructive hands of Syria at play can’t help but notice that whenever an important event is about to take place (large anti-syrian demo, the first ever sovereign presidential visit to damascus in today’s case), someone somewhere kills a lot of innocent people.

As March 14 M.P. Jawad Boulos put it this morning to the VL radio station: “the explosion of Tripoli is a message to president Sleiman that there are forbidden topics in today’s meeting with the Syrian president”

On the other hand, there are many who believe that all the ills emanating from the north are the doings of Muslim fundamentalist terrorists, monsters who were recently propped-up by the Sunni wing of March 14 (Hariri’s Almustaqbal Movement) in an ill-advised effort to counter Shiaa ascendancy in the form of Hezbollah.

In the eyes of this group, the terrorists are carrying out their revenge against the Lebanese army who put them to their knees and humiliated them during the Naher Al Bared showdown. 


So which of the two culprits is really behind the bombing?



The Syrians might have encouraged Monday’s black-draped fundamentalist demonstration to prime the Lebanese into an anti-fundamentalist mood. Moreover, the coincidence of the bombing and the President’s visit to Syria is just too strong to ignore.

Yet on the other hand, the fundamentalists could have really been behind this, and Monday’s demonstration could have been a warning.

The true answer is: We don’t really know and we’ll unfortunately have to wait for the ever sterile investigations to tell us.

Do you have an opinion about this? Who do YOU think is behind the Tripoli explosions?