A suicide bomber detonated on a passenger van, killing himself and wounding the driver and a passenger in an area near Hebollah strongholds in southern Beirut. Security forces said the van was not the intended target, as the bomber had first tried to board a taxi but was refused. A north Lebanon mukhtar denied that Amjad Fawzi Abdel-Karim was the attacker in the Feb. 1 suicide bombing in Hermel; security forces said the attacker’s SUV had passed through Arsal before reaching Hermel. The Brigades of Abdullah Azzam claimed that its Marwan Hadid Brigades carried out the Jan. 25 rocket attacks in Hermel jointly with the al Nusrah Front in Lebanon.
