SIDON: The weekend attack in southern Lebanon which left six U.N. peacekeepers wounded was unlikely to have been organized by a Lebanese group, security officials said Monday.
One official said he had informed UNIFIL that the bomb attack on an Italian military vehicle – the worst of its kind on the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon in four years – was unlikely to have been organized by a Lebanese group, but was instead designed to “embarrass the Lebanese state and make it appear unable to exercise full control over its territory.”
The officials’ remarks came after a meeting with senior UNIFIL officers at the Serail in the southern port city of Sidon.
The officials also denied that any arrests had been made over the bombing. Some local news media said Monday said that five people had been arrested – three Lebanese and two Palestinians.
Meanwhile, UNIFIL Force Commander Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta held separate meetings in Beirut with President Michel Sleiman, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Jean Kahwaji Monday.
Asarta thanked the Lebanese authorities for their “strong statements of support for UNIFIL and condemnation of the despicable attack against the peacekeepers,” a UNIFIL statement said.
It said Asarta also expressed his deepest appreciation for the strong solidarity and support of the Lebanese Army following Friday’s attack and the care extended to the six injured peacekeepers by the medical team at Sidon’s Hammoud Hospital.
“UNIFIL peacekeepers remain determined more than ever to pursue our mandated tasks with greater vigor. We will not allow this incident to interrupt our operations on the ground which are continuing in full measure in cooperation with the LAF [Lebanese Armed Forces],” Asarta said.
“I was assured that the Lebanese authorities and the people at large share the same determination towards the continued implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and we agreed that to this end security and safety of UNIFIL peacekeepers is vital,” he added.