Officials Call for Strengthening Security Forces after Shwaifat Blast

Political officials on Monday called for boosting cooperation among security agencies, in the wake of the suicide bombing that hit a passenger van in the Shwaifat area, the second bomb attack to rock Lebanon in three days.

President Michel Suleiman asked military, security and judicial authorities to “be strict in pursuing the instigators and perpetrators of the bombings that are taking place on Lebanese soil, in order to arrest them and refer them to the relevant judicial authorities.”

Lebanese Democratic Party leader MP Talal Arslan called during an interview on LBCI for “providing the necessary political protection for all security agencies in the country.”

He voiced his belief that “an all-embracing cabinet would alleviate the sharp polarization in the country and would contribute positively in confronting crises and terrorism, in addition to providing a political cover for security institutions.”

Meanwhile, State Minister Marwan Kheireddine, who is close to Arslan, said “the same as the latest bombings, this blast was aimed at killing people and there are no religious or political centers in the area."

For his part, MP Ali Ammar, member of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc, said "this crime is part of the terrorist operations that are targeting the entire region and further unity is needed among the Lebanese."

"We must confront the takfiris through strengthening our security institutions and pressuring the countries that support them," Ammar added.

"The society must be liberated from the sectarian and inflammatory rhetoric and a cabinet must be formed as soon as possible," he went on to say.

Ammar also stressed that "no one will be able to defeat the resistance, no matter what they do."

And as it condemned the attack and voiced solidarity with the victims' families, the March 14 General-Secretariat noted that “Hizbullah's involvement in the ongoing fighting in Syria will only bring to Lebanon further disasters, destruction, terrorism and tears.”

“Stability in Lebanon can only be achieved through specific measures on the ground, involving the deployment of the Lebanese Army along the Lebanese-Syrian border to protect our people in Akkar and the Bekaa, with the assistance of U.N. forces as allowed by (U.N. Security Council) Resolution 1701, which was endorsed by Hizbullah in 2006,” the general-secretariat added.