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Berri Defends Hizbullah as Party of Ethics after Rocket Attack Accusations

Speaker Nabih Berri has defended Hizbullah against accusations that it is involved in the latest rocket attack on the Baabda area, saying it is a respectable party.

“Hizbullah is not only innocent from this act but its ethics and its path of resistance prevent it from such a behavior,” Berri told An Nahar newspaper published on Monday.

“The party is a respectable Lebanese political faction that does not make acts of sabotage in the country,” he said.

“The first target in this operation is the army,” Berri added.

He also rejected any attack on Baabda palace or any action against the presidency.

A rocket landed in the garden of the Freiha villa that is located near the Officers' Club in the Baabda area near the presidential palace on Thursday night.

A second rocket landed near the Khashoqji castle in al-Yarzeh.

The accusations made by the March 14 alliance against Hizbullah are "ridiculous," Berri said in remarks to As Safir daily.

He added that it was a "shame" to point the finger at the party.

The speaker's remarks came after Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea hinted during an interview with Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) on Sunday that Hizbullah was behind the rocket attack.

“Up till now, military experts haven't found the launchpads,” the LF chief said, adding there was information that the rockets were placed on trucks in the areas of Dohat Aramoun and Bshamoun.

“They were launched from areas that come under the military control of a certain party,” he told VDL.

“Who has the ability to move freely” in those areas? Geagea wondered, saying he would leave it to the Lebanese people to decide on the answer, in a hint to Hizbullah's involvement in the attacks.


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