Outrage over Haret Hraik explosion continues in Lebanon

The issue of Haret Hraik explosion was raised during Tuesday’s cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Saad Hariri described the blast as “dangerous.” He told the cabinet: “The explosion does not only target a specific group but rather targets all of Lebanon and all Lebanese.”

Cabinet ministers Boutros Harb, Salim al-Sayegh and Ibrahim Najjar criticized both the performance of the security forces and the lack of authority over Beirut’s southern suburbs.

They demanded explanations as to the reason for failure of the security and judicial authorities to carry out their task immediately after the explosion took place

Defense Minister Elias Murr said the delay in arrival of security forces was purely due to technical reasons. Murr has reportedly explained the technical reason to An-Nahar as follows : “The rule of coordination between Hezbollah and the Lebanese army calls not to move swiftly to the incident scene.” In other words Hezbollah wants to clean up before allowing the army and security forces anywhere near the scene of the explosion.

The Lebanese are outraged that Hamas was able to set up a live ammunition training facility in a residential building in southern Beirut (where the explosion took place ) and are blaming Hezbollah for that .