Arsal Residents Deplore Rocket Attacks on Bekaa Towns as al-Labweh Road Reopened

Arsal residents condemned Sunday the firing of rockets from the Eastern Mountain Range, urging the army to deploy in the area, as the only road linking the town to al-Labweh and Lebanese regions was reopened.

“We denounce all kinds of terrorism and the firing of rockets from the eastern mountain range,” a statement issued by the prominent figures of the Bekaa town of Arsal's following a meeting at the municipality of the town.

The statement decried the attacks, noting that “they are rockets of sedition and suspicions mortars that solely intend to provoke sedition and spread chaos.”

On Saturday, one person was killed and at least two others injured after several rockets fired from the eastern mountain range landed on Shiite towns in the Bekaa Valley.

ISIL said it was responsible for the attack, claiming to have fired five Katyusha rockets.

Al-Labweh residents had blocked the only road leading from and to Arsal in protest at the shelling. The road, however, was reopened with bulldozers on Sunday afternoon at the request of the family of the young man who was killed Saturday in the rocket attack.

Arsal's residents had condemned the closure of roads leading to Arsal, considering it an “offense.”

They called on the state, including President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Tammam Salam to assume their duties regarding the town.

“We are part of the Lebanese geography and history will not have mercy if our town became a victim,” the statement noted.

The statement urged the army and security forces to deploy along the country's eastern border to end all violations and lift the cover off offenders and those who are meddling with the country's stability.

The prominent figures called “on the residents of Arsal and its neighbors to dissociate themselves from the chaos in Syria.”

Al-Labweh and al-Nabi Othman are Shiite towns whose residents are supporters of Hizbullah, which is fighting alongside troops loyal to Assad against the majority Sunni rebels.

Later, President Suleiman denounced in a statement issued by his press office the rocket attacks on the towns of Bekaa.