Miqati Instructs Mansour to Follow Up Syrian Shelling along Lebanese Border
Prime Minister Najib Miqati tasked on Wednesday Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour with following up the Syrian bombardment of Lebanese border towns.
“The army is taking the necessary measures to control the border with the neighboring country,” Information Minister Walid Daouq quoted Miqati as saying after a cabinet session held at the Grand Serail.
Daouq told reporters that security agencies confirmed that Syrian forces are carrying out airstrikes in Lebanese territories.
President Michel Suleiman instructed Mansour on Tuesday to send a message of protest to the “Syrian side” so that such operations are not repeated.
He also condemned Syria for carrying out the "unacceptable" air strikes.
But Damascus, in its first comments on the attacks, denied it was involved.
Miqati also denounced during Wednesday's cabinet session the repeated Israeli violation to Lebanon's airspace.
On Monday, Israeli aircraft released scarlet heat balloons over Lebanon's regional waters, in the first such violation in around a year.
Israel has escalated its flights over Lebanon in recent weeks.
On the assault against four Dar al-Fatwa clerics, Miqati described the incident as “shameful,” hailing the swift reaction by security forces to control the situation in the street.
Two sheikhs were assaulted on Sunday in Beirut's Khandaq al-Ghamiq area, while another two were attacked in its Shiyyah neighborhood.
The assault led to road closures in Beirut and other cities for on Sunday and Monday.
Protesters blocked the roads with garbage bins and burning tires, inflaming old tensions already boiling over the conflict in Syria.
Seven people have so far been arrested over links to the attack and investigations are ongoing to uncover their accomplices.
“Most of the political leaders condemned the incident, which stresses the importance of halting the strong rhetoric and the resumption of the national dialogue,” Daouq quoted the premier as saying.
Lebanon plunged in a political crisis in October after the opposition blamed the government for the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch chief Wissam al-Hasan.
The March 14 opposition alliance boycotted dialogue despite President Michel Suleiman's extensive efforts to resume talks between the rival factions.
The last dialogue session was held on September 20.
Lebanese parties are sharply divided over the crisis in Syria as the March 8 alliance continuously expresses its support to Assad, while the March 14 camp backs the popular revolt.
The international community and analysts have expressed fears that the conflict in Syria may spill over into Lebanon.
Source: Agence France Presse
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