Arsonists on Friday attempted to set fire to the office of Future bloc leader MP Fouad Siniora, a security official said, as tensions between rival camps in the country soar.
“At around 8:00 p.m., unidentified assailants threw a Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb at the office of Siniora” on the outskirts of the southern city of Saida, a police spokesperson told AFP.
Former Lebanese prime minister Siniora was viewed as the right-hand man of assassinated late PM Rafik Hariri and is close to Hariri’s son Saad, the current prime minister.
The spokesperson said Siniora’s office had been slightly damaged but no one was hurt.
Tension escalated in Lebanon following reports that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will soon issue its indictment into the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Last July, the Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that the tribunal is “an Israeli project” that will indict Hezbollah members. Nasrallah accused Israel of being behind Hariri’s assassination but refused to provide the evidence to STL to support his claim. Hezbollah and its March 8 allies have been calling for the abolition of STL.
Some leaders are concerned that should the court indict Hezbollah members, it could lead to a Shiite-Sunni strife.
The Pro Syrian Al Akhbar newspaper reported earlier in the month that Hezbollah has prepared a plan to take over Lebanon when STL issues its indictment for the 2005 murder of the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun , (a close ally of Hezbollah ) said on November 18 that Hezbollah might violently respond to an STL indictment that accuses Hezbollah party’s members in Hariri’s assassination.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.