Anger grips Lebanon after bomb strikes at UN patrol

By Weedah Hamzah May 28, 2011, 8:49 GMT

Sidon, Lebanon - The bomb attack against UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, wounding six Italian soldiers, on Friday has shocked Lebanon and raised speculation of Syrian involvement to avenge EU sanctions against the Syrian president.

Nohad al-Mashnouq, a member of former premier Saad Hariri's parliamentary bloc, told the German Press Agency dpa, 'the explosion which targeted the UNIFIL patrol in south Lebanon is a message to the international community.

'It is a clear Iranian-Syrian message to the international community not to interfere in Syrian affairs,' Mashnouq added.

Earlier this week European Union foreign ministers approved a laundry list of fresh sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a bid to end months of government-sanctioned repression of opposition movements which started against the regime on March 15.

In Friday's roadside bomb attack, three Lebanese passers-by were also wounded. It was the first attack on the UN in Lebanon in over three years.

According to Lebanese army investigators, the blast was caused by a bomb placed behind a low concrete barrier lining the highway that links Beirut with southern Lebanon.

The blast caused extensive damage to two of the four cars in the convoy as it traveled south on the main highway in Sidon. The police said that the bomb, which left a crater in the road, contained up to 10 kilograms of explosive material.

The Lebanese daily As Safir quoted unnamed security sources Saturday as saying that the attack on the UNIFIL patrol 'shows that there was advanced technology involved with the preparing, planting and directing of the explosive package.'

The source added that the package exploded despite electronic jammers used by UNIFIL to try to protect against such remote-controlled explosions.

A diplomatic source in Beirut told dpa 'Syria might be involved in the roadside bomb...especially since it came after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said that the European Union would regret its sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad.'

On Thursday, Moallem had warned that 'Syria will not remain silent' to the EU measures against Assad.

The daily An Nahar, quoting another diplomatic source, said 'the attack on the Italian contingent hints that the messages sent to Europe, which began with the kidnapping of the seven Estonian tourists in the Bekaa valley in March, are on the rise.'

Seven Estonian bikers were kidnapped on March 23 in eastern Lebanon and their whereabouts are still unknown.

The blast against the Italian soldiers also caused anger among the residents of southern Lebanon who praised the Italian contingent's work in the region.

'This is a criminal act against our good friends the Italian soldiers who are assisting us in our daily lives, by giving us free medical health care, helping our farmers and preserving the peace in this volatile region,' Abu Mohammed Salameh, a southern villager, told dpa.

'This is a blow for Lebanon's security and it will have negative effects on Lebanon,' said Hassan Habli, a resident of Sidon.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on the UNIFIL, which has been monitoring a fragile ceasefire since the 33-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.

The last attack on UN forces in Lebanon was in January 2008, when a roadside bomb struck UN vehicles traveling along the same road south of Beirut, lightly wounding two peacekeepers.

On June 2007, a deadly attack targeted a convoy for the Spanish UN soldiers near the border with Israel, killing six peacekeepers.

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