The worst terrorist attack in Beirut since the Lebanese Civil War, killing 43 people in a Shia-majority suburb one day before the Paris attacks.
Key Facts
- Date
- 12 November 2015
- Deaths
- 43 people
- Attack method
- Two suicide bombers
- Target area
- Bourj el-Barajneh, southern Beirut
- Perpetrator
- Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
- Suspects arrested
- 13 (mostly Syrians)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
ISIL conducted a series of coordinated attacks across multiple countries in late 2015. The Bourj el-Barajneh neighbourhood, a densely populated Shia Muslim suburb of Beirut, was targeted. The original plan involved sending five suicide bombers to a local hospital, but heightened security caused the attackers to redirect to a crowded civilian area.
On 12 November 2015, two suicide bombers detonated explosives in Bourj el-Barajneh, a southern suburb of Beirut predominantly inhabited by Shia Muslims. The blasts killed 43 people and constituted the deadliest terrorist attack in Beirut since the end of the Lebanese Civil War. ISIL claimed responsibility for the bombings.
Within 48 hours, Lebanese Internal Security Forces arrested eleven suspects, mostly Syrian nationals, followed by the arrest of two additional Syrian and Lebanese individuals. Investigators identified a Palestinian refugee camp and an Achrafieh apartment used to prepare explosive belts. The attacks occurred amid a wider wave of ISIL violence that included the Sinai airliner bombing and the Paris attacks within days of each other.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent