Lebanon on a knife-edge: Emergency cabinet called over blast



 

Source Video: Russia Today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-Pd572qMsw
Story Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/lebanon-attack-bomb-syria-847/

Tensions run high in Lebanon as the government declared an emergency meeting following a bomb attack that killed a top security official. Clashes and protests have been reported throughout the country amid opposition calls for the PM to resign.

Riots and protests continued into Saturday as thousands of people across Lebanon voiced their ire at the car bomb blast in Beirut on Friday that claimed the lives of eight people. Over a hundred people were also injured in the explosion that killed Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan.

Enraged citizens have blocked roads with burning tires as a sign of their protest, while clashes in the city of Tripoli close to the southern Syrian border fueled fears the Syria’s conflict is overflowing across the border.

The secretary-general of Lebanese opposition group Future Movement, Ahmad Hariri, said that the attack had been masterminded by embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Hariri also condemned Lebanon’s current PM Najib Mikati to resign immediately, saying that “he is personally responsible for the blood of General Wissam al-Hassan and the innocent.”

“We accuse Bashar al-Assad of the assassination of Wissam al-Hassan, the guarantor of the security of the Lebanese,” Hariri told a Lebanese TV station.

While former Lebanese Interior Minister Ziad Baroud told al-Jazeera that it was too early to ascertain who was behind the bombing.

"We have no indication whatsoever [of who is behind this]. We know this is a strong and sad message, and we know this could destabilize the whole country," said Baroud.

The attack has come at a time of strong antagonism between pro-Syrian regime groups and anti-Assad factions in Lebanon. Many fear that the conflict in Syria will exacerbate sectarian divisions in neighboring Lebanon.

Rifts are growing steadily wider in Lebanese society as the countries Sunni Muslims get behind the rebels and the Shiites offer their support to President Assad.

A Lebanese protester runs between burning tyres as demonstrators block a road in the southern city of Sidon on October 20, 2012 to protest against a bomb blast in the capital Beirut the day before (AFP Photo / Mahmoud Zayyat)

 

A Lebanese protester throws clothes on a pile of burning tyres as demonstrators block a road in the southern city of Sidon on October 20, 2012 to protest against a bomb blast in the capital Beirut the day before (AFP Photo / Mahmoud Zayyat)

The security official who was assassinated was a Sunni Muslim who opposed Assad and the regime’s strongest ally in Lebanon, the Shiite group Hezbollah.

The blast struck the Ashrafiyeh district of Beirut, a majority Christian neighborhood of the Lebanese capital. An explosives-laden car was detonated in a grounded street at rush hour, injuring over 100 people and decimating surrounding buildings.

It was the first car bombing in Lebanon since four years ago, when Lebanon’s top anti-terrorism investigator was killed along with three others.

The UN has condemned the attack calling for a thorough investigation to find the perpetrators, while the US called the blast a “terrorist attack.”

 

Lebanese people take part in a candlelight vigil near the site of a car bomb blast in Beirut on October 19, 2012 (AFP Photo / Patrick Baz)

 

A Lebanese man burns tyres in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon to protest against the assasination of top intelligence official Wissam al-Hassan in a blast on October 19, 2012 (AFP Photo / Mahmoud Zayyat)

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Beirut blast: Who serves to gain?

Lebanese security forces and rescue workers gather at the site of an explosion in Beirut's Christian neighbourhood of Ashrafieh on October 19, 2012. (AFP Photo/Patrick Baz)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/beirut-blast-syria-israel-829/

The deadly blast in Beirut which killed eight and wounded 118 more has risked destabilizing Lebanon while civil war rages in Syria. Middle Eastern analyst Ali Rizk told RT that the one with the most to gain from the attack was not Syria, but Israel.

RT: So you are there in the city, how would you assess the situation there right now?

Ali Rizk: Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN envoy to Syria, he was here in Beirut just two days ago. In his statements, he said that he was very afraid that the conflict or unrest in Syria could not stay within Syria’s borders forever, and that eventually, if it continues, it will go beyond these borders.

Now, two days after he made these statements, this massive, massive blast – I was at the scene for a couple of hours –we already have the political element coming into play. Some elements of the March 14th movement, which is known to be anti-Bashar al-Assad, even before it was known who was killed in this explosion, they quickly pointed the fingers at the Syrian government. And now with [senior Lebanese intelligence official ]Wissam al-Hassan, the head of internal security has been killed or targeted, is known to be pro-March 14th [and not an ally] of the Syrian government. This will only lead to more and more fingers [being pointed] from March 14th, and from their Western allies being pointed at Syria. [It is] similar to the situation we witnessed when [former Lebanese prime minister] Rafik Hariri was assassinated.

­Named after the date of the Cedar Revolution, the March 14th alliance was a coalition of political parties formed in the wake of the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. United by their anti-Syrian stance, the group pushed for a lessening of Damascus’ influence on internal Lebanese affairs, the establishment of a commission to investigate Hariri’s assassination, the resignation of security officials, and the organization of parliamentary elections. The Cedar Revolution secured a withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanese soil that same year.

RT: What do you make of the accusations that the Syrian government is behind the blast?

AR: The question that must be raised in all cases is who benefits from such an act? If the Syrian government goes ahead with [such] acts – we don’t have any information – but if it does…I think it’s only endangering itself and committing suicide. Is the Syrian government as such a suicidal government? I myself don’t [think] so.

The side which benefits maybe would be Israel. This might be a coincidence, but it might not be. Hezbollah actually sent an unmanned drone into Israeli airspace just a few days ago. So could this be a response from Israel…because many are saying that Israel doesn’t have the ability, that it now cannot actually wage a war against Hezbollah and against Lebanon. So has Israel resorted to creating internal instability inside Lebanon with the aim of keeping Lebanon preoccupied with itself and taking it out of what we refer to here as the resistance axis, which includes Iran, Syria and Hezbollah? We also must not forget the potential of Israel playing a role.

The fact that many of the al-Qaeda elements and the extremists who are fighting the Syrian government inside Syria, it is said that many of them have fled over here into Lebanon from the city of Homs and taken refuge. The explosion we saw today – car bombings – indeed do bear the traces of al-Qaeda, it affiliates and even some foreign intelligence sources.

RT: As you mentioned, after the Special Envoy to Syria did warn that the Syrian conflict could spread beyond Syria itself. You’ve just been talking about Israel, we’ve seen the events in Lebanon, and of course we’ve been reporting about the impact on Turkey. Which other countries now could be affected by the Syrian crisis?

AR: The Syrian crisis, as I said, could affect the whole region. We also have Iraq. Iraq could be very much involved, especially taking into consideration al-Qaeda and its presence there. The whole region could be set ablaze. Even some of Syria’s foes, like the United States and the Obama administration, have warned of the regional repercussions of the ongoing Syria unrest. So I think the whole region is exposed, and so for this reason it is necessary for there to be a judgment to the initiative by Lakhdar Brahimi, who focused on seeking a ceasefire on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

 

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Car bomb rocks Beirut: At least eight dead, 78 injured (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

 

A car burns at the site of an explosion in Ashrafieh, east Beirut, October 19, 2012. (Reuters)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/beirut-lebanon-explosion-police-797/

At least eight are dead and 78 wounded after a car bomb rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut, MTV quotes civil defense sources as saying. The attack targeted a majority Christian neighborhood in the ethnically divided city.

At least four of the wounded transported to the city's Jeitawi Hospital were children.

The blast rocked the city’s Sassine Square in the predominately Christian Ashrafieh neighborhood on Friday. The explosive-laden car was detonated during rush hour at 3:00 p.m. local time as many students were leaving school, the Lebanese Daily Star reports. Plumes of black smoke were seen rising from the eastern part of the city.

Ambulances dispatched to the scene were taking the wounded to hospital.

At least seven cars were set on fire during the blast, an MTV correspondent on the ground said, and many more were battered by falling bricks. Considerable damage to the surrounding buildings has also been reported, with a tangled mess of wires, railings, and balconies crashing to the ground.

Human body parts were seen scattered on the roads. Flying glass from windows shattered during the blast wounded more than 20 people, the Lebanese National News Agency reports. Red Cross workers were seen evacuating bloodied casualties from a burning building.

The explosion occurred 200 meters from a local Kataeb political headquarters, better known in English as the Phalanges Party. The Phalanges are a right-wing Christian political-paramilitary organization which played a prominent role in the Lebanese Civil War.

The country's Interior Minister Marwan Sharbel arrived at the scene shortly after the blast.

It was the first car bombing to Beirut since January 2008, when Lebanon’s top anti-terrorism investigator was killed along with three others.

No one has taken responsibility for the attack.

 

Lebanese security forces and rescue workers gather at the site of an explosion in Beirut's Christian neighbourhood of Ashrafieh on October 19, 2012. (AFP Photo / Patrick Baz)

 

Lebanese firefighters douse burning vehicles at the site of a car bomb explosion in Beirut's Christian neighbourhood of Ashrafieh on October 19, 2012. (AFP Photo)

 

A woman is helped by a Lebanese soldier after an explosion in Ashafriyeh district, central Beirut, October 19, 2012. (Reuters)

Syrian spillover

Oxford historian Mark Almond told RT that there could be many likely perpetrators behind the bombing, but “the most likely explanation is that it’s linked to the Syrian crisis.”

“It’s not just that this is a kind of a natural process that there are overlaps of various groups over the borders of Syria into Lebanon, it’s also that it’s perhaps in the interest of one side to really internationalize this crisis,” he said.

Saying that the opposition has regularly called for international assistance and intervention, Almond believes “the more the neighbors of Syria seem to be destabilized by the fighting inside Syria… the easier it is to make an argument that some kind of international intervention must come about in order to keep the peace.”

The deadly civil war in neighboring Syria has pitted primarily Sunni rebels and the government of President Bashar al-Assad, who is from the Alawite Islamic sect.

Unresolved tensions between Lebanon’s Sunnis and Shiites communities stemming from the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War have been inflamed by the Syrian conflict, which had claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.

On Friday Syria condemned "the cowardly terrorist attack" in Beirut.

 

Lebanese forensic experts and security forces inspect the site of an explosion in Beirut's Christian neighbourhood of Ashrafieh on October 19, 2012. (AFP Photo / Anwar Amro)

 

Lebanese rescue workers and firefighters inspect the site of an explosion in Beirut's Christian neighbourhood of Ashrafieh on October 19, 2012. (AFP Photo / Anwar Amro)

 

Lebanese army soldiers secure the area at the site of an explosion in Ashrafieh, central Beirut, October 19, 2012. (Reuters)

 

A civil defence member helps a wounded man at the site of an explosion in Ashrafieh, central Beirut, October 19, 2012. (Reuters)

 

A wounded woman is carried at the site of an explosion in Ashrafieh, central Beirut, October 19, 2012. (Reuters)

 

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At least 40 killed over 70 injured in three blasts that rocked Aleppo

 

Photo from twitter.com user @NMSyria

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/aleppo-blast-government-center-553/

Syrian state TV reports of three powerful explosions in downtown Aleppo, the financial hub and largest city of the country. Reportedly the blasts were caused by car bombs that terrorists delivered to the city’s main square.

Later, terrorists struck again, blowing up a fourth car, this time near a municipal palace in Baba Amr quarter, reports Lebanese Al-Manar TV station.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that activists on the ground report 40 fatalities and 72 injured in the terror act, most of them military servicemen.

The Saadallah al-Jabri square in central Aleppo where the first three explosions took place is currently controlled by government forces.

Most of the victims of the blasts are civilians. Luckily enough, the three cars on Saadallah al-Jabri square went off early in the morning when the municipal buildings were empty. The House of Officers has reportedly been completely destroyed. Rescuers continue to clear up the debris and the number of victims may grow.

Terror acts like this are not common in Aleppo. The first one happened in February, when two suicide car bombers attacked security compounds in Aleppo's industrial center killing 28 people. Since then, there have only been two similar attacks.

­‘Syria reminiscent of Afghanistan 1979’

­The extensive use of explosives in Syria indicates an increasing strength of jihadist groups, including Al-Qaeda, in Syria, believes Khuram Iqbal, co-author of Pakistan Terrorism Ground Zero. The presence of Islamic radicals in Syria has been admitted by the UN and various international agencies.

“What’s happening in Syria these days reminds me of Afghanistan back in 1979, when the Western democracies supported international jihad against the Soviet Union. Back then the Western capitals were able to confront the Soviet Union, but the long-term consequences were really devastating for the regional and international peace,” recalls Iqbal, warning against supporting rebel movements because of unpredictable consequences.

Explosive terrorist acts on the streets of Syrian cities do not bring considerable tactical advantage to the rebel groups because they risk losing any popular support in the country and on the part of the international community, Iqbal believes.

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