Beirut and Jerusalem are concerned that Sunday’s deadly attack on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon signifies the bolstering of Islamist forces in the country.
Six members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were killed when a bomb hit their convoy on Sunday.
There are conflicting reports as to whether the bomb was situated in a car and detonated by remote control or whether it was the work of a suicide bomber.
Three Spanish and three Colombian peacekeepers were killed in the attack.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora condemned the attack, which he called an act of terror. The Shi’ite Hizbullah also condemned the attack and said it damaged Lebanon’s stability.
No one has claimed responsibility for the assault.
UNIFIL bolstered its forces to 13,000 troops after the war between Israel and Hizbullah last summer. This was the first time they have been targeted since the newly structured force deployed in south Lebanon last year.
Sunday’s attack, paired with a Katyusha attack on northern Israel last Sunday, raises fears that an Al-Qa’ida-linked group is operating in south Lebanon to destabilize Lebanon and fight against Israel.
Hizbullah denied the rocket attack.
It is widely speculated that the rocket firing was the work of a Palestinian organization in Lebanon, and that it was an extension of the wider ongoing battle between the Lebanese army and an Al-Qa’ida-affiliated group called Fatah Al-Islam in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
Ayman A-Zawahiri, a leading Al-Qa’ida figure, has urged Muslims to fights against the international presence in the south of Lebanon.