August 2013 Beirut Bombing

On 15 August 2013, a car bomb detonated in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 27 people and injuring more than 200 others. The device was reportedly intended for a stronghold of Hezbollah, the Shi'ite Muslim political and militant organization. The attack was described as the "worst explosion in south Beirut" since a 1985 truck bomb assassination attempt that targeted senior Shi'ite cleric Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah.

Responsibility for the bombing was claimed by an Islamist group calling itself Aisha Umm-al Mouemeneen, also known as the Brigades of Aisha. In a statement, the group accused Hezbollah of acting as agents of Iran and threatened further attacks, stating: "This is the second time that we decide the time and place of the battle ... And you will see more, God willing." In contrast, Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and other politicians attributed the attack to Israel.

The bombing occurred amid heightened sectarian tensions in Lebanon linked to Hezbollah's intervention against Sunni rebels in the Syrian civil war. A month before the Beirut attack, a separate car bombing had injured more than 50 people in the same district. One week after the Beirut bombing, two mosques in Tripoli, Lebanon were bombed, killing over 40 people and injuring hundreds more; that attack was thought to have been carried out in retaliation for the Beirut bombing.

Political analyst Anno Bunnik warned at the time that Sunni militants were likely to continue targeting Hezbollah-associated areas in response to the group's role in the Syrian civil war.

No individuals have been publicly named as charged, convicted, or acquitted in connection with this attack. The case remains associated with a claim of responsibility by an armed group rather than a completed criminal justice process against named individuals.