Damascus deplores assassination attempt of minister al-Murr in Beirut

Syria has strongly condemned the assassination attempt on the life of the defense minister in the outgoing Lebanese government, Elias al Murr, in the north of Beirut on Tuesday. The attempt resulted in killing two of his guards while other 12 were injured.

A Syrian official media source described the operation as a terrorist act and a chain in the series of explosions and acts of assassination aimed at destabilizing Lebanon and weakening its national unity.

The Syrian official news Agency SANA quoted the source as saying that these "terrorist acts target the Lebanese from various political trends and directions. This fact proves that those behind these explosions are directly linked to the enemies of Lebanon and the enemies of stability in the region." Worthy mentioning that the Lebanese forces which oppose Syria started since the assassination attempt of the Druz parliamentarian Marwan Hamadeh in October 2004 and after the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri and the followed assassination acts and explosions to accuse what it called the Syrian- Lebanese security system of being behind these explosions.

However, Syria which ended the pullout of its forces from Lebanon in April this year condemned these explosions and strongly denied to have had any hand in these incidents and held responsible what it called the enemies of Lebanon for "these terrorist acts."