Wide Condemnation of the Beirut Twin Blasts: ‘Terrorist Crime’
Local Editor
The terrorist attack against the Iranian embassy in Beirut which killed and wounded dozens of people was extensively slammed.
Iran has considered that the "Israelis" and their mercenaries are responsible for the crime.
The Iranian President Sheikh Hassan Rouhani called the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, to follow up on the details of the blasts and expressing solidarity with the Lebanese.
Rouhani received a phone call from the Lebanese president Michel Suleiman, who offered him condolences for the martyrs of Beirut twin blasts.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham strongly condemned the attack as "an inhuman action", and said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran takes the Zionists and their mercenaries responsible for this action."
Afkham said since the attack targeted an area in the vicinity of the Iranian Embassy compound in Beirut, Tehran will pursue the incident.
Syria also strongly condemned the double bomb blast outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut.
"The Syrian government firmly condemns the terrorist attack carried out near the Iranian embassy in Beirut," state television said.
"This coward attack reflects the involvement of terrorism callers, preservers, makers and funders in the region and their insistence on spreading terrorism as a behavior, practice and a culture to undermine the region and its future," it said in a statement.
Moreover, UK Foreign Minister William Hague condemned the twin bombings that erupted near the Iranian embassy in Beirut on Tuesday, offering his condolences to the families of the victims.
France, for its part, slammed the attack, with its presidency voicing its support for the Lebanese government "in order to protect national unity."
Also, US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned on Tuesday calling it a "senseless and despicable" bomb attacks against Iran's embassy in Beirut, urging all parties to back Lebanon's probe.
Russia also strongly condemned as a "terrorist act" the double suicide bombing outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut.
The UN Security Council and UN leader Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday condemned suicide bombs at the Iranian embassy in Beirut and called on Lebanese to stay out of the Syria conflict.
On the Lebanese arena, Political parties and figures expressed their strong condemnation for the blasts and considered it as a terrorist scheme that targets Lebanon and the region.
Most outstanding among the condemnations were the following:
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, stated that the twin blasts in Bir Hassan region aimed against the Iranian Embassy which has always been seeking to unify Lebanon and Lebanese and anchor national security and stability, especially that conspirators behind the blasts want to augment division between Lebanese.
Berri deplored the blasts, wishing the injured people a speedy recovery.
He also cabled Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Iranian Revolution, offering him his condolences on the death of Sheikh Ibrahim Ansari, the Iranian Cultural Advisor at the Iranian Embassy, who was killed in the blast.
Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the blast, describing it as "a cowardly terrorist act."
"The aim of the blast is to stir-up the situation in Lebanon and use the Lebanese arena to convey messages," Mikati accentuated.
Prime Minister-designate, Tamam Salam, condemned the explosion, describing it as "a terrorist crime which would aim to strike stability and national unity."
Salam pointed out that the best response to the owners of the evil schemes would be patience and to bridge all the gaps in the national unity wall.
Head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad, said in a statement on Tuesday that the criminal explosion was a terrorist act replicating the well-known Zionist pattern of hostility.
"The aim is to carry on carnage, sabotage, fomenting chaos, menacing national unity, and sapping stability. It is a scheme to which the western-"Israeli" coalition abides to and which interests intertwine with those of regional regimes and Takfiri groups," he added.
Mufti of Lebanon, Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani, also deplored the twin blasts, saying that such explosions aim to flare up local strife in Lebanon, notably between Shiites and Sunnis.
Caretaker Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn expressed strong disapproval of the two blasts that targeted Bir Hassan's Iranian Embassy.
In addition, Marada movement leader, MP Suleiman Frangiyeh, denounced on Tuesday the blasts, saying this terrorist act bore a clear message to the Resistance's path and to Lebanon's civil peace.
The head of Phalange party Amine Gemayel spoke out against the two explosions and called for an immediate national position to rescue the country from the "clutches of this merciless and hellish plot against Lebanon."
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun considered that the blasts were carried out by the desperate mad who are giving samples of what may happen in case they took over the authority.
Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Jumblat on Tuesday expressed strong disapproval of the explosions.
Source: News Agencies
