Hezbollah: Israel benefits from Beirut blasts

4/3/2005 7:00:00 PM GMT

The Lebanese Shiite Resistance movement Hezbollah said that recent series of blasts in Beirut are serving the "Zionist enemy."

In a statement issued on Saturday, the anti-Israeli occupation group said that the four explosions that rocked the northeastern, predominantly Christian areas, in Beirut during the past three weeks are aimed at planting sedition and division among the Lebanese people.

The movement, moreover, called for finding and punishing the perpetrators of the bombings, saying that those who masterminded the attacks were "serving the Zionist enemy and its schemes."

Hezbollah warned against the "dangers of the repercussions of such acts, which target the security, stability and civil peace" of Lebanon.

The group’s statement came a day after an explosion hit the parking lot of a commercial center in the Christian area of Brummana, 12 miles northeast of Beirut.

Nine people, including an American and a Kuwaiti, were wounded in Friday blast, believed to have included 55 pounds of explosives.

The blast also destroyed 12 cars, damaged more than 50 stores, a sports club, a social club and two large warehouses.

Also commenting on the latest series of bomb attacks, the Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said Saturday that those explosions are targeting the Lebanese security forces.

The Lebanese President said in a statement that those bomb attacks were meant to "place doubts on the Lebanese security forces and their ability to control the situation in the country."

Beirut’s bombings came as Syria started withdrawing its troops from Lebanon, following domestic and international pressure in the aftermath of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Al Hariri's in a car explosion in Feb. 14.

Mr. Lahoud said the explosions are targeting the Lebanese people, their commercial and economic interests and aimed at causing chaos.

"All these objectives serve the enemies of Lebanon who exploited the repercussions of the crime against Hariri," said the Lebanese President.

So far, the Lebanese security services failed to find the perpetrators of Beirut’s four bomb attacks and the assassins of Rafiq Al Hariri.