Lebanese leaders react to pager explosions carnage

Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil described the pager explosions that rocked Lebanon as “an attack on entire Lebanon, not on a party or a sect in it.”

“It might be an occasion to raise each other’s awareness and at this moment in which Israel has aggressed, we must show our strength through our unity, which alone can protect us,” Bassil added, after offering condolences in Dahieh to MP Ali Ammar, whose son was killed along with 11 other people in the unprecedented attack, which also wounded around 2,800 people.

Druze leader Walid Jumblat for his part described the attack as a “harsh blow by Israel,” but noted that “it should not affect the preparations.”

“What Israel did today is only one of many rounds and not the end of the story,” Jumblat told Al-Jazeera television.

“Lebanon does not want war, but it wants to defend itself, and through today’s operation Israel has provoked Lebanon,” Jumblat added.

“I call for closing ranks and then preparing for further Israeli attacks on Lebanon,” Jumblat urged, stressing that “the conflict with Israel is a conflict of existence and not a conflict of borders.”

“They are trying to encroach on the South but the resistance shall remain,” the Druze leader added, emphasizing that “the Lebanese people will not surrender but will rather resist.”

Speaker Nabih Berri meanwhile described the attack as “not only a massacre, but rather a blatant war crime.”

“Our destiny is resistance and resilience and we shall achieve victory of martyrdom,” Berri added.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea for his part expressed sorrow and grief over “the security incident that wounded hundreds or thousands of people who are now in hospitals.”

“This is not the time to discuss politics,” Geagea told reporters shortly after the blasts, following a meeting in Maarab with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday hailed “the national unity that appeared yesterday after the major event that happened,” underlining that “this unity is the strongest response to the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and its people.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, who dispatched envoys to the hospitalized Iranian ambassador and to MP Ali Ammar, expressed his agony over “the disaster that targeted around 3,000 Lebanese citizens.”

“He condemns this indiscriminate killing through the use of telecommunication devices and also deplores all forms of aggression against the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples, especially those who are unarmed,” the Maronite Patriarchate said in a statement, adding that the patriarch is praying to God for “comprehensive and just peace in our region and the world.”