The Iranian cultural attache（专员，公使）, Sheikh Ibrahim Ansari, is among the dead, according to the Fars news agency.

 

Iran is a major backer of the Lebanese Shia militant¹ group Hezbollah, which has sent fighters to Syria to back the government of Bashar al-Assad. 

 

The Sunni jihadist group Abdullah Azzam Brigades said it was behind the attack.

 

The head of the al-Qaeda-linked group described the attack as a "double martyrdom（殉难，牺牲） operation carried out by two heroes from the heroic Sunnis of Lebanon".

 

The bombings were condemned² by the United Nations Security Council, and the US described them as "senseless and despicable".

 

The conflict in Syria has increased sectarian（宗派的） tensions in its smaller neighbour. 

 

Lebanese Sunni Muslim fighters have joined forces with the mainly Sunni rebels in Syria. Some of the rebel groups are affiliated⁴ with al-Qaeda.

 

Syria's President Assad comes from the Alawite sect³, a heterodox offshoot of Shia Islam.

 

The BBC's Paul Wood, in Beirut, says the number of people killed in Tuesday's attack makes it one of the worst in Shia southern Beirut since the war across the border in Syria began.

 

But more significantly, he says, it is the first attack on an Iranian target.

点击收听单词发音