July 2013 Beirut bombing  On 9 July, the southern suburb of Beirut, Bir el-Abed was hit by a car bomb that injured at least 53 people. Bir el-Abed is considered a Hezbollah stronghold. The bombing was initially blamed on "Israel and its agents,” by both Hezbollah and Saad Hariri, (the leader of the Future Movement, the "Sunni party that is Hezbollah’s main political rival"), though other observers suspected this was to keep the Sunni-Shia peace at a time of Sunni anger with Hezbollah for its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The bombing was later claimed by a brigade of the Free Syrian Army while a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army denied any implication in the bombing. A month later on 15 August 2013, another car bomb exploded in the same district, this time killing twenty seven people and injuring over 200.