A car bomb detonated today in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. So far, four are reported dead and over 50 have been injured. With rumors spreading that the bombing may have been the work of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a Sunni jihadist group with ties to al Qaeda, it seems that this was the latest in a series of moves indicating that the regional conflict with Syria as its red-hot center is growing ever wider, now encompassing all the Levant, from Baghdad to Beirut. In the Lebanese capital alone, within a one-week span a former Sunni minister was assassinated, Saudi Arabia bought a $3 billion share of a national army heavily infiltrated by Hezbollah, and then today the Party of God was targeted on its home turf.

With Iran and Saudi Arabia jockeying for position and trading messages and blood across the region, the Obama administration has ostensibly adopted a policy of neutrality—“we’re not taking sides in a religious war between Shia and Sunni,” said Obama. The reality is somewhat different as the United States is seen to be siding with Iran and its allies. That may turn out to be a problem for the White House that isn’t going to be solved with drone strikes on al Qaeda figures.