Publication

This brief looks at the November 2013 bombing of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut in an attempt to gauge the destabilizing effect of the Syrian conflict on the Middle East. The authors say that this event represents an escalation of sectarian tensions in Lebanon and was a punishment directed towards Hizbollah by radical salafists who disagree with Hizbollah's military support of the Assad regime in the Syrian conflict. They conclude that the bombing incident proves that external actors’ involvement in Syria can lead a spillover of the conflict into the wider region.