Suleiman, Miqati Ask Syria to Probe Cameraman Killing, Hariri Slams Govt.

President Michel Suleiman called on Syria to investigate the deadly cross-border shooting that targeted an al-Jadeed TV crew on Monday “in order to prevent the recurrence of such attacks,” as Premier Najib Miqati urged Damascus to “hold the perpetrators accountable” and ex-PM Saad Hariri blamed Miqati’s government for “turning a blind eye to the Syrian violations.”

Suleiman telephoned al-Jadeed’s owner, Tahsin Khayyat, expressing his condolences. He also telephoned Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi, Higher Lebanese-Syrian Council chief Nasri Khouri and Lebanese Ambassador to Syria Michel Khouri, asking them to follow up on the investigations.

The president called on Damascus to “conduct the necessary investigations in order to identify the perpetrators and prevent the recurrence of such attacks in the future.”

For his part, Miqati expressed “his grief over the martyrdom of al-Jadeed TV cameraman Ali Shaaban and the wounding of reporter Hussein Khreis and cameraman Abed Khayyat while they were performing their professional duties in the border area of Wadi Khaled” in northern Lebanon, the PM’s press office said in a statement released a few hours after the incident.

“We condemn and deplore the shooting from the Syrian side at the Lebanese media team, especially because they were operating within Lebanese territory, and we have asked the Lebanese Army command to open an urgent probe into the incident in order to unveil all its circumstances,” Miqati said in the statement.

“We condemn any attack against Lebanese citizens, especially journalists, and we will inform the Syrian side of our condemnation of this rejected act and we will demand an investigation into the attack and demand that the perpetrators be held responsible,” Miqati added.

He also praised al-Jadeed for its “patriotism and professionalism” and Khreis and Khayyat for their “courage.”

Meanwhile, ex-PM Hariri condemned the incident, describing it as “an attack on the Lebanese sovereignty.”

He accused Miqati’s government of “turning a blind eye to the continuous assaults and violations carried out by the Syrian forces against the Lebanese territory for months.”

Hariri said the government had not taken any measures aimed at putting an end to the violations.

Shaaban was killed on Monday in the northern border area of Wadi Khaled when he and two of his colleagues came under gunfire from the Syrian side of the border.

Reporter Khreis and cameraman Khayyat managed to escape unharmed.

The TV network said the crew was in the area with the aim of filming a report about the situation there. Khreis confirmed that he and his colleagues came under gunfire from the Syrian side of the border and that they were inside Lebanese territory.

Al-Jadeed accused the Syrian army of the deadly shooting, saying it opened fire at its team which was on the Lebanese side of the border. "Ali Shaaban became a martyr after the Syrian army opened fire on the al-Jadeed car," the channel said.

Khreis said the shooting took place even though the television team had "greeted the Syrian forces guarding the border."

“We were filming the Syrian areas, but we were in Lebanese territory, and we chatted with the Syrian brothers (border guards) and continued our trip,” said Khreis.

“We started to crawl but they opened heavy gunfire at the car … Bullets were raining down,” Khreis added.

“We watched cameraman Ali Shaaban dying in the car and we were not able to pull him out,” he said.

Khreis said Lebanese security forces did not warn them that they were entering a “danger zone.”

He said they waited for more than two hours for the army and some residents to come and pull them out to safety.

Lebanese security officials told The Associated Press that a bullet pierced the chest of the 32-year-old Shaaban.

Gunfire came from the nearby Syrian village of Armouta, the officials said.

Later on Monday, State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza tasked Judge Tareq Bitar, the North’s general attorney, with inspecting the targeted car and hearing the testimonies of Shaaban’s colleagues and the witnesses who were present in the area.