This morning’s explosion that wounded more than 50 people in Beirut’s southern suburbs was a significant political and security challenge to Hezbollah. The blast occurred on July 9 in Hezbollah’s most protected area: between Bir al-Abed and Haret Hreik. Before the July 2006 war, when Israel completely destroyed the area, it formed a security perimeter for Hezbollah’s political and security leaders. Hezbollah rebuilt the area using the Waad company, which is funded by Lebanese Shiites and Iran. The area retained its symbolism as Hezbollah’s security and popular stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs. By all accounts, its penetration sends a strong message to the party that it cannot protect the areas of its popular base and that the latter will pay for the party’s involvement in the fighting in Syria.

According to sources, Hezbollah has been expecting reprisals in Lebanon by Sunni extremist groups in response to the party’s fighting alongside the Syrian army in Qusair, one of the most prominent strongholds of the Syrian opposition in Homs. These sources used to assert that Hezbollah was not expecting revenge explosions in the southern suburbs due to the party’s intense security measures in the area. Over the past few weeks, Hezbollah had been conducting security patrols in the southern suburbs, looking for explosives with specially trained dogs.

According to official sources, someone was able to deliver a car bomb into the Hezbollah-monitored area. The car was parked in the parking lot of a large supermarket called the Islamic Cooperative Center. The area of the explosion was symbolic. It is the location of many Iranian institutions such as the Qard al-Hassan Institution, located near the cooperative. Many of these Iranian institutions have Lebanese commercial fronts that have links to the commercial sector of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

According to sources close to Hezbollah, the choice of the location indicates that the perpetrator wanted to send a political and security message to Hezbollah and Iran that their actions in Syria will not go without a response and that they will pay a price for crossing the red line.