Local Figures Deplore Hermel Attack and Jumblat Says Condemnation 'Became Useless'
Local political figures deplored on Saturday evening the second explosion to hit the Bekaa town of Hermel in a month, calling for national unity.
"Once again criminals have targeted a Lebanese region and attacked innocent civilians,” caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati said in a released statement.
"And in front of this incident, we can only call for national unity to protect our country and our people,” he added.
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat told MTV that words of condemnation “are no longer useful.”
"This is the second explosion that targets Hermel and we don't know where the next one will take place. We have entered a cycle of terrorism as a result of the war in Syria and of foreign nations' conflict over the region,” he added.
He continued: “Getting into details is useless and I don't want to analyze anything. I will limit my statement to condemning the attack and expressing my fear of the future."
"I have warned of these explosions.”
Jumblat also noted that the ongoing debate over the cabinet's formation is pointless.
The March 14 general-secretariat condemned “the crime that targeted Hermel,” reiterating calls for deploying army forces on the border with Syria, supported by UNIFIL troops.
Meanwhile, PM-designate Tammam Salam called on the residents of Hermel to “exercise self-restraint despite the painful events they are going through.”
"This cowardly terrorist act must be a motivation for local factions to unite and block the road in front of sedition, and to support the army and the security forces that are exerting all needed efforts to prosecute perpetrator and bring them to justice,” Salam said.
Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel told LBCI television that isolating security bodies from political authorities is a “heresy.”
"We demand a single authority that exclusively supervises to the work of all security forces,” he stressed.
"We must all assume responsibility and what security bodies have been able to uncover so far reveals their potentials and capabilities.”
"This should be followed with a political cover,” the former president remarked.
At least three people were killed in a suicide explosion that targeted a petrol station in Hermel on Saturday evening, less than a month after an attack killed three and wounded 26 others in the Bekaa town.
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