Hezbollah's political message

Nahariya attack may have been inspired by Hezbollah for political reasons. We can assume that Hassan Nasrallah’s men did not fire the Katyusha rockets at Nahariya over the weekend. Thus far, no organization claimed responsibility for the attack, yet its hallmarks suggest that it was not carried out by Hezbollah, but rather, by a Palestinian-Lebanese group associated with Global Jihad. That is, a group inspired by al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden.

One of the indications supporting this assessment is the timing of the rocket fire – the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attack. This year, as it does every year, al-Qaeda’s leadership motivated affiliated groups to carry out attacks on this day in order to reemphasize Global Jihad’s ability to contend with the West and prove that al-Qaeda is still alive and kicking. We must also keep in mind that we are in the midst of Ramadan, which traditionally serves as a backdrop for terror attacks on the part of individuals and organizations with religious Muslim motivation.

The two rockets were fired from the Tyre area, where several Palestinian refugee camps are located. These camps, which Lebanon’s security forces largely avoid, serve as a shelter for many members of the Ansar al-Islam group and smaller organizations affiliated with al-Qaeda. These activists moved to south Lebanon after the Lebanese Army suppressed their rebellion in the north two years ago.

Most members of these groups are Palestinians or other Sunni Arabs, who in the past operated among the ranks of al-Qaeda in Iraq and moved on its orders to Lebanon. In the past three years, ever since the end of the Second Lebanon War, they carried out several attacks against UNIFIL troops and fired rockets at Israel. The number of attacks was relatively low because Hezbollah, a Shiite group, rejects Sunni ideology and limits these groups’ activity.

The last time Global Jihad members fired rockets at (...)