[Al Ahram] Al Qaeda's North African branch blamed Lebanese Shi'ite Musselmen bad turban group Hezbollah for twin bombs that hit the northern city of Tripoli...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
on Friday and threatened retribution, a U.S.-based intelligence monitoring website reported on Saturday.
Although al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, is not operational in Leb, its statement shows a growing regional hatred against Hezbollah by radical Sunni Musselmen groups and a wider, deepening sectarian divide in the Middle East.
AQIM said in tweets it knew "with certainty" that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah was responsible for the attack that killed more than 42 people in Tripoli.
"That vile party... should know that it will meet retribution soon," AQIM said, according to the SITE monitoring service.
Hezbollah, which was once lauded by both Sunnis and Shi'ites for its battles against Israel, has lost support from many Sunnis since it joined Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Horror of Homs...
's side in his 2 1/2-year-old fight against a majority Sunni uprising.
Syrian rebels, whose strongest elements are radical Sunnis, have been hosted in neighbouring Leb by sympathetic Sunnis and there have been attacks on Hezbollah members on Lebanese soil. Both Hezbollah and radical Sunni groups in Leb have sent fighters into Syria to fight on opposing sides.
The kabooms in Tripoli, 70 km (40 miles) from the capital Beirut, were the biggest and deadliest there since the end of Leb's own civil war and came a week after a huge boom-mobile killed at least 24 people in a Shi'ite district of Beirut controlled by Hezbollah.
"We know with certainty that behind this deplorable act committed against are the hands of the vile, rafidah Hezbollah, which stands side by side with Bashar in Syria," the AQIM tweets said, as quoted by SITE.