Al-Rahi Offers Condolences in Dahieh, Urges Political Initiative to Honor Victims of Blasts
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Monday reiterated his call for political parties to close ranks in the wake of the deadly bombings that rocked Tripoli and Dahieh.
After offering condolences at the headquarters of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council on Dahieh's outskirts over the victims of the Rweiss blast, al-Rahi said "what happened on August 15 affected entire Lebanon and so did the martyrdom of 45 people on Friday in Tripoli, because we are one family."
And as he voiced solidarity with everyone affected by the Rweiss bombing, the patriarch said: "All people do not want the conflict to continue in Lebanon ... and had politicians showed more unity, especially the disputed parties, and had they taken decisions to pull the country out of its crises, these explosions would not have happened."
Al-Rahi called on officials to "launch an initiative that honors the blood that was shed."
"We must resort to rapprochement, dialogue and reconciliation because the price we have paid is very heavy," he went on to say.
For his part, Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan, deputy head of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council, said: "We are willing to offer whatever is needed for the sake of Lebanon."
"We salute and extend our condolences to our people in Tripoli as their wounds are our wounds and their tragedy is our tragedy," Qabalan added.
"We must steer clear of sedition and malice," he said, noting that "the country needs unity and rapprochement."
Around 45 people were killed and more than 800 others wounded in twin bombings that hit al-Taqwa and al-Salam mosques in Tripoli on Friday, eight days after 27 people were killed and more than 280 others injured in a car bombing that rocked a residential and commercial area in the Beirut southern suburb of Rweiss.
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