FSA denies any role in Beirut attack

The rebel Free Syrian Army on Sunday  strongly condemned  the  Sunday rocket attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs, distancing itself from an earlier  threat by an FSA official that the “fire raging in Syria will spread into Lebanon.”

“We condemn in the strongest terms the act of sabotage and terrorism that targeted Dahiyeh and reiterate our commitment to Lebanon’s security, sovereignty and stability,” Fahd al-Masri, head of FSA’s Central Media Department, said in an interview with MTV.

In another interview with Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5), Masri strongly denied any role for the FSA in the rocket attack, describing remarks voiced by FSA secretary Ammar al-Wawi as “irresponsible.”

“I will telephone Captain Wawi and rebuke him for his remarks and I will ask him to withdraw his statement, because we have nothing to do at all with the launching of the rockets,” Masri added.

He described the incident as “deeply worrisome,” noting that “it confirms what we had revealed about an Iranian plot to make bombings in Shiite areas to cover up for Hezbollah’s failure in (the Syrian town of) Qusayr.”

Speaking to the Lebanese satellite TV channel LBC earlier on Sunday, Ammar al-Wawi warned of the consequences of Hezbollah’s intervention in the Syria conflict. He urged the Lebanese government to stop Hezbollah from intervening in Syrian affairs and hinted to possible attacks against Beirut, Tripoli and the Beirut airport.

“We will have further actions over the upcoming days, and this is a warning to Hezbollah and the Lebanese government which must immediately take action,” he added.

The rocket attacks came just hours after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed “victory” in Syria.

One retired  high ranking Lebanese Internal security   officer told Ya Libnan that he will not be surprised if the investigation reveals that Hezbollah itself was behind the rocket attack. He added ” This is exactly the kind of  stuff we witnessed during the civil war in Lebanon. “