"This constitutes payback against Syria because it is anti-Islamist and is against the spread of such Islamism in the north of Lebanon," said Moussalli, a professor of political science and Islamic studies at American University of Beirut.
Syria suffers strained ties to some Sunni Arab countries over its support for the Shiite political and military organizations Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories, as well as its strategic alliance with Shiite-dominated Iran.
Although diplomats all over the world, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. State Department officials, condemned the bombing, Saudi Arabia, Damascus' biggest Arab rival, remained silent. The Saudi government staunchly supports Lebanon's Sunni community and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, which is strongly opposed to Hamas.
Syrian officials and pundits throughout the Middle East have publicly suggested that groups in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia or Israel could have been behind the blast. But authorities investigating the explosion have been mum.
"You can always round up the usual suspects," Moubayed said. "It's too early to blame any particular group or organization."
In a report cited by Israeli media, London's pro-Saudi newspaper Asharq al Awsat said the bombing took place near a building identified as the Palestine branch of Syria's military intelligence. It cited unnamed sources saying that one victim, perhaps the target, was a high-ranking intelligence officer.
But a Syrian opposition group, the U.S.-based Reform Party of Syria, discounted that possibility, saying that no high-ranking officials ever spent time at that intelligence office.
The privately owned Syrian newspaper Al Watan cited witnesses at the site, including a traffic policeman injured in the blast, who said they saw two charred bodies in the black sedan that held the car bomb minutes after the explosion. Imad Habib, the policeman, said he found the car "totally burnt and in it were two burnt persons and another two outside it. They were all dead."
Another witness said the car blew up after crashing into a truck parked along a sidewalk.
The government-run Al Thawra newspaper published an editorial calling for tighter restrictions on foreign visitors. Syria now lets citizens of other Arab countries enter without visas.
"We need to be very careful in whom we let in," the piece said.
"We should ask, 'Why is he here and what does he want?' "
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daragahi@latimes.com
