BEIRUT: Prime Minister Tammam Salam met Monday with Telecoms Minister Boutros Harb, who urged caution over carrying out retaliatory attacks against Israel following the airstrike that killed six Hezbollah members in Syria a day earlier.
“It’s not in anyone’s interest for a front to be opened [with Israel] and for Lebanon to enter a war,” Harb said in a statement released after his meeting with the premier.
The meeting came a day after an Israeli helicopter strike on Syria’s Golan Heights killed the son of slain Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, five other Lebanese fighters, and a senior Iranian commander.
A Lebanese security source told The Daily Star that two Syrian fighters affiliated with Hezbollah also died as a result of the attack.
“This issue concerns all the Lebanese, because [ensuing] repercussions and reactions could make Lebanon vulnerable to adverse consequences,” Harb said.
Such concerns urge the Lebanese government to prepare itself for “all possible outcomes,” Harb noted, adding that efforts should be taken to curb any impact the attack may have on Lebanon’s citizens and sovereignty.
The telecoms minister offered his condolences to "Lebanese citizens" who were killed during the attack, while expressing hopes that Hezbollah wouldn’t be involved in battles outside of Lebanon.
Kataeb Party leader Amine Gemayel also extended his condolences to the Hezbollah fighters killed in Saturday’s attack, while slamming the group for involving Lebanon in foreign conflicts.
“What do we have to do with the Golan Heights? ... Defending Lebanon originally involved fortifying our internal arena as well as state institutions,” Gemayel said in a televised interview Sunday evening, following the attack.
The timing and manner of Hezbollah’s response remains very vague.
Mahmoud Qmatti, a member of Hezbollah's political bureau, said Monday that the party would respond to the attack “in the right place and at the right time," in comments that mark the first official response by a Hezbollah senior official to the Israeli assault.
No comments:
Post a Comment