Al-Mustaqbal Warns: Bir al-Abed Explosion Aims at Inciting Strife

Al-Mustaqbal bloc warned on Tuesday that the explosion at a parking lot in the Bir al-Abed area of the southern suburb of Beirut aimed at “targeting national unity.”

"We condemn the blast that targeted Bir al-Abed and we consider that the criminal hands behind it aimed at destabilizing security and inciting people against each others and causing strife in the country,” the MPs said in a released statement after the bloc's weekly meeting at the Center House.

They continued: “We call on security and judicial bodies to intensify their investigations to identify the attackers and prosecute them.”

"We warn against the criminals' objectives of targeting national unity and weakening the Lebanese.”

The bloc remarked: “Israeli defense minister Moshe Yaalon's dangerous statement following the explosion that said it was a result of Sunni-Shiite conflict and the ongoing Syrian war must be carefully considered.”

Fifty-three people were wounded when a booby-trapped car exploded at a parking lot near a Hizbullah religious center in Beirut's southern suburb on Tuesday.

The blast went off near the Islamic Cooperation Center, causing extensive damage in the area of Bir al-Abed.

The lawmakers also tackled March 14's statements made after the alliance's Sunday meeting in the southern city of Sidon, saying that they express a “full commitment to the project of a civil democratic state where the exercise of power is inseparable to bearing the responsibility, respecting human rights and public freedoms.”

“We consider that Lebanon cannot be ruled by a single party, sect or group and its constitutional, security and political institutions belong to the entire nation,” they stressed.

“Everyone's rights must be secured without terrorizing or the dominance of a group so that the public order and the state's regulations are not violated.”

However, the MPs said “constructive criticism based on holding on to the application of the law aims at straightening a path that strengthens the state and its stability.”

They hailed the arrest of soldiers involved in beating and insulting fighters linked to Salafist cleric Ahmed al-Asir, saying that “it is a good start for behavioral accountability.”

The Army Command announced on Saturday detaining several soldiers for attacking an arrested man involved in last June's clashes against the military institution in the southern city of Sidon.

"After viewing a video spread online that shows a number of soldiers beating and insulting a detainee, the military institution has arrested several troops involved in the incident,” the Army Command's Orientation Directorate said in a communique.

“In this respect, we are still waiting for a transparent probe and for answers regarding the participation of Hizbullah fighters in the clashes in (the southern town of) Abra, the arrests made, the torturing of people and the spread of arms in (the southern city of) Sidon,” the bloc pointed out.

March 14 had accused Hizbullah of being the source of the violent clashes between the army and al-Asir two weeks ago.

The gunbattles, which have left 18 soldiers and around 20 gunmen dead, were sparked after al-Asir's followers opened fire on an army checkpoint.

Al-Mustaqbal questioned the “tendentious campaign” against the movement and the bloc's lawmakers that accuses them of “obstructing the work in the state's institutions and causing vacuum in official posts, as well as inciting strife.”

The statement remarked: “Al-Mustaqbal movement has always worked towards preserving civil peace and strengthening the state's institutions.”

“Those pretending to defend the state and the army are the ones that attacked the military institution."