Iman Chairman condemns recent terrorist attacks in Lebanon
Lunes, 24 Febrero 2014
The attacks have devastated the town of Hermel
Army picks up the pieces after deadly bomb
DAILY STAR, LEBANON
The Lebanese Army vowed to fight on against terrorism as early investigations into the latest suicide bombing that targeted the military near Hermel indicated that the explosives-laden car had been rigged in Syria.
“Once again, the Army pays the price of combating terrorism and seeking to preserve civil peace,” the military said in a statement hours after the explosion.
The Army vowed to carry on its fight against terrorism “regardless of the sacrifices,” urging the public to rally around the military.
A suicide car bombing targeting an Army post in the northeastern town of Hermel killed three people, including two soldiers, and wounded 17 others Saturday, a security source told The Daily Star. Hermel is one of several areas associated with Hezbollah.
The Lebanon branch of the Nusra Front, a radical Syrian rebel force, claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, saying it was part of a “series of vengeful attacks.”
The group, listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, has vowed to carry out attacks in Lebanon in retaliation for Hezbollah’s continued military role in Syria.
Saturday’s bombing was the second such attack last week, following twin suicide bombings near the Iranian Cultural Center south of Beirut.
The Lebanese Army Sunday released photos of the soldiers killed, who were identified as 25-year-old officer Elias Khoury from the eastern town of Zahle and Hamzeh Faitruny, 26, from Baalbek.
Mohammad Ayyoub, 50, was also killed in the explosion. Four soldiers were among those wounded.
“Hamzeh saved his companions from certain death when he tried to stop the suicide bomber,” his father Riad Faitruny said.
“For that, he gained the honor of martyrdom and sacrifice in defense of Lebanon, which has given me some peace with the separation,” Faitruny added.
Khoury had brandished his gun after the suicide bomber refused to comply with military intelligence officers who wanted to search his black Grand Cherokee, which did not have a license plate.
The suicide bomber detonated the car after an officer asked him to turn on the inside light and park on the side of the road to be searched.
The bomb left a meter-deep crater and sent the car behind it, which was driven by Ayoub, tumbling 20 meters through the air. The Lebanese Army said the bomb contained 125 kilograms of explosives while a security source said the 1994 Grand Cherokee was most likely smuggled in from Syria.
The explosion damaged a number of nearby shops and residential buildings and set ablaze several vehicles. Security forces cordoned off the site of the deadly blast and opened an alternative road for residents to enter the town.
Ambulances and fire trucks rushed to the scene of the explosion, which occurred at around 7 p.m.
Military prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr tasked the military police with collecting evidence and beginning DNA tests on the human remains found at the site of the attack.
A security source told The Daily Star that the authorities had been on alert after receiving a report of a suspicious Jeep in the Northern Bekaa Valley that was believed to be rigged with explosives. Officers at the checkpoint had permitted smaller vehicles known to local residents to pass through the area quickly, which limited traffic at the checkpoint and reduced casualties.
The force of the explosion scattered the remains of the SUV as far as 300 meters from its center.
Officers continued to comb the area for clues.
The authorities struggled Sunday to find traces of the suicide bomber as he was “scattered into tiny pieces,” making it difficult to collect samples for DNA testing, a security expert told The Daily Star.
But CCTV footage from the area showed the Cherokee passing in front of a nearby cafe with its sides covered in sand and mud, suggesting the vehicle had been driven from the eastern mountain range adjacent to the rebel-held area of Yabroud in Syria on one of a number of roads used by smugglers.
Investigators also found a driver’s license and forged ID card with the name Abbas Saleh, supposedly from the village of Brital near Hermel. The image on the ID card, which would have likely identified the suicide bomber, was burned off in the explosion.
The Army intensified its presence on the Baalbek- Hermel road and other thoroughfares in the Northern Bekaa after details emerged of another car that was accompanying the Cherokee but had since disappeared.
Aid officials surveyed the area for damage. An entertainment park nearby was severely hit by the blast, which occurred only a few minutes after about 40 children left the premises following a birthday party.
President Michel Sleiman offered his condolences to the families of the victims and said the Army had become the main target of terrorist acts.
He also called on the military and security forces to be more determined to face terrorism and safeguard the country.
This is the third suicide attack this year in Hermel. The most recent explosion was on Feb. 1 when a suicide car bomber killed four people in an incident also claimed by the Nusra Front in Lebanon.
“The Army will not end its fight against those trying to harm Lebanon and will continue working to uncover terrorist networks and pursuing the perpetrators regardless of the sacrifices,” the military said in a statement released hours after the explosion.
The Army has recently arrested several suspects belonging to Al-Qaeda-linked groups, including the Abdullah Azzam Brigades and Nusra Front.
The attack drew condemnations over the weekend, with the U.N. vowing to continue its support for Lebanon and its military during “these difficult times.”
Prime Minister Tammam Salam condemned the suicide bombing, calling on the public to rally around the Lebanese Army.
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri expressed his full solidarity with the Army and security forces in their mission to maintain security and stability, in a phone call with Army chief Gen. Jean Kahwagi.
Hezbollah said Saturday’s attack demonstrated that such terrorism did not discriminate among Lebanese and posed a threat to the entire country.
“This latest crime is only proof that ... terrorism does not need justifications or reasons to carry out its crimes. It kills, slaughters, marginalizes and destroys without discriminating between soldiers and civilians or between people belonging to one sect or another in Lebanon,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
The U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly strongly condemned the attack and extended his condolences to the Lebanese Army and to the families of the victims.
“The Special Coordinator reiterated the U.N.’s support for Lebanon and its Army during these difficult times and hoped that all those responsible for today’s bombing and all other acts of terrorism will be brought to justice as soon as possible,” according to his office.
British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher also condemned the attack, saying his country would help rebuild the checkpoint and offer protective kits to the Army.
“Appalled that our [Lebanese] Army allies [were] hit by cowardly terrorism tonight. We’ll help rebuild Hermel checkpoint+offer $500,000 of protective kit,” Fletcher tweeted.
The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon also condemned the bombing, saying an attack on the Army was “an attack on all Lebanese,” on its Twitter.
Al Qaeda-linked group claims Beirut bombings
REUTERS
The al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed a twin bomb attack in Beirut on Wednesday, saying such attacks would continue until Hezbollah forces withdrew from the fighting in Syria and its own fighters were released from Lebanese jails.
The radical Lebanese group, which claimed the attack on its Twitter account, also said it was responsible for a November 19 attack on the Iranian embassy that killed 23 people, using the same tactic of twin suicide bombs. In both cases, most of the victims were civilians.
Hezbollah is a powerful Shi'ite Muslim political and militant group in Lebanon that is funded by Iran. The group has sent hundreds of fighters to neighboring Syria, giving a boost to its ally President Bashar al-Assad against mainly Sunni rebels seeking to topple him.
"We will continue - through the grace of God and his strength - to target Iran and its party in Lebanon (Hezbollah) in all of their security, political and military centers to achieve our two demands: One, the exit of all fighters from the Party of Iran in Syria. Two, the release of all our prisoners from oppressive Lebanese prisons," the statement said.
The three-year uprising in Syria, which began as popular protests but descended into civil war, has increasingly been taken over by Sunni Islamist groups. Some rebel groups have affinities or direct links to al Qaeda or militant groups in neighboring countries such as Lebanon and Iraq.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades have strong links to Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps as well as connections with the Gulf. One of its senior military leaders, Majid bin Muhammad al-Majid, was a Saudi national. He was arrested by Lebanese authorities last December, who said he died from kidney failure while in their custody.
Several other figures said to be linked to the group have been captured by Lebanese intelligence forces in recent months. Last week, the army arrested Naim Abbas, a man suspected of being a leading member of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.
Lebanese military forces described Abbas as the "mastermind of car bombs" that have targeted Shi'ite areas in recent months, of which there have been at least nine.
The attacks have targeted Hezbollah-controlled neighborhoods around the capital Beirut and towns on the northern Syrian-Lebanese border, where Hezbollah is also powerful.
In its Wednesday statement, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades said its attacks were a sign of solidarity with the Syrian uprising, now nearly three years old.
"We say to the people of Syria, rejoice, for your blood is our blood, and the Party of Iran (Hezbollah) will not enjoy safety in Lebanon until safety is returned to you in Syria."
Commenting on the attacks, Chairman of the Iman Foundation Ribal Al-Assad said:
"I am appalled to hear of these most recent attacks in Beirut and Hermel, they are cowardly and heinous acts perpetrated by extremists driven by a sectarian ideology which has no place in todays world.
Not only should those who are behind the acts be brought to justice, but all those who incite hate must be held accountable, including those who preach through proxies and hide behind technology.
Lebanon is a beautiful Mosaic that should be conserved and the people of Lebanon must stay united in the face of those who are trying to destroy it, those who are trying to drag Lebanon into a sectarian conflict. They must not allow this to happen.
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families at this time."
