Sunday, 11 January 2015

Lebanon ministers vow justice after 'monstrous' Tripoli attack



BEIRUT: Lebanon’s interior minister Sunday denounced the “monstrous” twin suicide attack that targeted a Tripoli cafe the day before, while the justice minister vowed to punish those behind the twin bombings that killed nine and wounded more than 30.


Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said that Saturday’s attack was “a monstrous assault on [both] the residents of Jabal Mohsen and all the Lebanese.”


Machnouk said that the Lebanese would “thwart these kinds of assaults through unity and solidarity.”


Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi who is a native of the northern city said that everyone who either planned or participated in the “unacceptable and condemned” act would be pursued by the full force of the law.


In a statement released by his news office Saturday evening, the justice minister said that he would call on the Cabinet to refer the case to the Judicial Council along with other terrorist attacks so that “those responsible will be pursued and tried by the judiciary [before] being served a fair punishment,” he said.


Saturday’s attack marks the first serious breach to a security plan implemented in 2014 that ended years of clashes in Tripoli between the mostly Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen and the mostly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh.


Recurring violence in Tripoli took on an increasingly sectarian nature with the beginning of the war in Syria. Most residents of Jabal Mohsen back President Bashar Assad, while Bab al-Tabbaneh’s residents largely support the rebels fighting to overthrow him.


Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian called on Lebanese to stand beside the Army and security forces who are “carrying out their national duty by preserving stability and security across the country.”



Advertisement



No comments:

Post a Comment