Charbel Calls on Lebanese to Unite to Prevent Instability

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel stressed on Sunday that only reconciliation among the Lebanese can prevent attempts by some sides to drag Lebanon further into strife.

Charbel expressed fear, in comments published in the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah newspaper, that more explosions would target Lebanese areas if the foes failed to unite and fortify the national unity.

He revealed that he drafted a security plan to safeguard the neighborhoods of Beirut's southern suburbs and several other areas across the country.

“Maybe this plan would help confront attempts to tamper with the country's stability,” Charbel told the daily.

On the blast that targeted Beirut's southern suburbs neighborhood Ruwais, which claimed the lives of 27 people and wounded more than 336 other, Charbel said that he “has no information over the arrest of any suspects as the case is in the custody of the judiciary.”

Hizbullah is a key supporter of President Bashar Assad and has sent fighters across the border to Syria this year to bolster government forces, which have been battling a deadly anti-regime revolt since March 2011.

Lebanon is deeply divided into supporters and opponents of the regime in neighboring Syria and the conflict now in its third year has stoked sectarian tensions and violence in the country.

An online video surfaced shortly after the attack showing three masked men, two of them holding rifles, in front of a white flag inscribed with the Islamic profession of faith, claiming the attack.

Concerning the abduction of two Turkish pilots on August 9, Charbel said that he is waiting for an initiative by Turkey to resolve the case, noting that he might head to Ankara during the upcoming week to directly negotiate with the Turks.

Gunmen ambushed last week a bus carrying Turkish Airlines crew from Beirut's Rafik Hariri international airport to a hotel in the city, and snatched the pilot and co-pilot.

A previously unknown group calling itself Zuwwar Imam al-Rida claimed the abduction, and demanded that Turkey use its influence with Syrian rebels it backs to secure the release of nine Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria in May 2012.

The pilots were seized just outside the airport, in an area controlled by Hizbullah.