Foreign Ministry Condemns Damascus Bombing, March 14 Calls for Protecting Lebanon

The foreign ministry denounced on Monday the deadly terrorist attack that targeted Lebanese pilgrims in the Syrian capital a day earlier.

In a statement, the ministry condemned the bombing that left nine people dead and at least 20 injured as the visitors traveled in a bus in Damascus.

It sent its condolences to their families and hoped for the speedy recovery of the injured.

The pilgrims were traveling from the shrine of Sayyida Roqaya in central Damascus to the southern shrine of Sayyida Zeinab when the bomb detonated. The bus belonged to a Shiite pilgrim tour company and had left Beirut early Sunday morning.

The statement added that Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil made several phone calls to offer condolences and condemn the “cowardly act.”

Also Monday, the March 14 general-secretariat sent its condolences to the families of the victims.

“Our solidarity with our people confirms once again the importance of exerting efforts to protect Lebanon from the repercussions of the events in the region,” it said in a statement.

The regional turmoil is tilting towards sectarian war and it is Hizbullah's responsibility to play a bigger role in thwarting such a phenomenon, it added.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat later condemned the “terrorist bus blast”.

“We reject any bombing against innocent civilians and offer our condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded,” he added in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website.

Hizbullah has sent its fighters to Syria to help troops loyal to President Bashar Assad against rebels seeking to topple him.

G.K.

M.T.