Analysts fear violence will spin out of control in Syria’s neighbor Lebanon after deadly bombings struck parts of the country a week apart and killed dozens of people.

The 29-month war in Syria, once the power broker in Lebanon, has already spilled across the border, pitting supporters of the Damascus regime against its opponents.

“It is very likely that there will be more car bombs and other terrorist attacks all over Lebanon. There is nothing to prevent it,” said Fadia Kiwan, head of the political sciences department at Beirut's Saint Joseph University.

According to her “there is a fifth column operating in the country” whose protagonists are linked to the Syrian conflict.

On Friday twin car bombs struck the northern port city of Tripoli.

Kiwan said the Syrian regime could be behind the attacks.

In any case, she said, “all these attacks will continue.”

Charles Lister, an analyst at IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre, said: “Lebanon has become a victim of what has in effect become a proxy conflict in Syria.”

“Lebanon is becoming an extension of the Syrian conflict.”

The Tripoli attacks outside Sunni mosques, like the Aug. 15 blast in Rweiss, a stronghold of the Hezbollah, killed civilians.

As officials grapple with the consequences of both attacks, they have warned that the aim of the unrest is to revive “sectarian strife” that plagued Lebanon during the civil war, and vowed to pursue their fight against terrorism.

Officially Lebanon has maintained a neutral stance in the Syrian war. But as the protracted conflict continues, sectarian tensions have grown in Lebanon for obvious reasons.

Lebanon’s Sunnis back the rebels politically and financially, while Hezbollah has been fighting for weeks alongside Assad loyalist troops and have helped them make some advances on the ground.

Tripoli, Lebanon’s second city has been rocked by frequent and deadly clashes between Sunnis and Alawites.

But Kiwan said the latest bombings rang alarm bells for all Lebanese, regardless of their religion or sect.

“All the Lebanese are now in the same boat; they are all exposed on the security front,” she said.

Observers agree that 23 years after the civil war that killed thousands and devastated the country’s infrastructure, no one in Lebanon has any interest in engaging in a new sectarian conflict.

“While I certainly don’t foresee any kind of nationwide explosion in violence, I do think such bombings may become more commonplace, particularly in hotspots like Beirut and Tripoli,” Lister said.

Paul Salem, who heads the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, says it is too soon to say how things will play out in Lebanon.

He said the Tripoli bombings could have been a form of “retaliation” or even “deterrence” for the Beirut blast.

On the other hand, he said, it could be the beginning of a spiral of violence that “will spin out of control.”

Hilal Khashan, chairman of the political science department at the American University of Beirut, said: “It is clear that there is a desire to trigger a confessional war in Lebanon to divert attention from what is happening in Syria.”

• Agence France Presse