5 Injured in Attack against Minister Karami's Convoy as Ex-PM Omar Karami Laments Lack of Security in Lebanon
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
A car part of Sports and Youth Minister Faisal Karami's convoy was engulfed in flames on Friday following a grenade attack in Azmi street in the northern port city of Tripoli as families of Islamist detainees held a sit-in to protest the ongoing detention of the men, as his father former Premier Omar Karami slammed the “lack of security” in Lebanon.
“I was heading to Friday prayers when the incident took place,” Karami told LBCI channel.
He said that gunmen were on the streets and suddenly gunfire erupted.
“We didn't know what happened,” he added.
“I don't think I was the target of the attack,” Karami told OTV channel earlier.
He stated that the convoy was passing in the area when several cars came under gunfire.
“I think the unrest aims at targeting the country's security situation,” the minister pointed out.
Karami told LBCI that “five of the bodyguards were injured.”
The identified bodyguards are Ali Baradei, Jamal Khaled al-Hassan, Mohammed Sayyour, and Ali Ahmed Mahmoud.
Sheikh Nabil Rahim, who called for Friday's sit-in, told LBCI that Sheikh Houssam al-Sabbagh was the target behind the incident.
Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) reported that the incident took place after Karami's bodyguards exchanged fire with several protesters participating in a sit-in held by the families of the Islamist detainees at Roumieh prison.
Al-Jadeed channel reported that it was an Energa-type rocket and not a grenade attack.
After Friday's incident, the army deployed near Karami's house in al-Maarad area and began checking the identification papers of passers-by.
The army later issued a communique saying that its units cordoned off the area of the incident as stationary and mobile checkpoints were deployed.
"The army is in pursuit of the culprits to arrest them and refer them to the competent judiciary," the statement said.
Former PM Omar Karami later held a press conference in Tripoli to denounce the incident, saying: “God saved Faisal from great evil.”
“We will consider today's incident as a mistake committed by the gunmen in the area,” he said.
“We have always voiced our commitment to the state and we will not make accusations against anyone,” he added.
"The security forces are not performing their duties in a manner that reassures the people," he noted.
“We will leave it up to the state to tackle this issue,” he continued.
“We have presented blood for Lebanon, Arabism, and the Arab world. We are always prepared to present such sacrifices,” declared the former prime minister.
“We will continue along our chosen path regardless of the hardships,” said Karami.
Moreover, he hoped that the parliamentary elections will be held on time “to produce a new parliament that would help prioritize the importance of the state.”
Several Islamists have been detained over alleged links to the Fatah al-Islam terrorist network that fought deadly gunbattles with the Lebanese army in 2007.
Authorities announced earlier this year that the trials for the inmates will kick off in February after the inauguration of a courtroom at Roumieh facility to speed up their trials.
18 January 2013, 11:20
31
The law of the jungle. I think they should let all the prisoners out. Then maybe we will have sit outs to put them back in jail.
18 January 2013, 13:12
21
Well, they just blew any chance of sympathy. This is good news.
Nobody supports them!
Islamists fundamentalists ought to be set an example of.
18 January 2013, 11:21
38
Condemn the Islamists, but don't forget as well that Hezbollah downed a helicopter with a high ranking security official in it.. im stating that so that Hezb sympathizers dont point fingers and shift the attention
18 January 2013, 17:04
32
Ft is Christian not shi3i, anyway... If u read what his father said in the article, saying he'll consider it an accident this time shows what really happened.
18 January 2013, 22:26
21
Error....it's more like one fanatic extremists muslims that are frozen in time killing not just other muslims but anyone who gets in their way!
18 January 2013, 13:00
03
People, the crazy Sunnis are getting crazier and crazier. In Africa. In Asia. In Europe. In the Middle-East. In America. EVERYWHERE. THEY HAVE GONE BERSERK. Thank you cheikh Saad Bin Rafic al-Zawahiri and Ahmad Tchay Latte Fatfat. Thank you Mustafa Allouch Baddo Douche and Khaled Bin Laden al-Daher Medri al-Fayet. Thank you Saudi Natania. Thank you US, France and Britain for appeasing the crazies who turn around and f..k you. Thank you March 14 for siding with the crzazies all the time. The crazies are coming. People, the crazies are coming. The crazies will kill other Sunnis if they find no one from other sects or religions to kill. Call it target practice and perfecting the skills. allahou BOOM BLAST akbar
18 January 2013, 13:17
33
You commentators are so weak.
The second a news happens you try to find a way to put Hezbollah/Iran/China/Venezuela & Hariri/Saudi/Qatar/Israel in the picture but such baseless and useless claims.
Most silent readers pitty you.
There - someone needed to say it.
18 January 2013, 13:19
23
This story reminds me of what aoun claimed that happened to his convoy in the southern city of saida in september/october. It was all organized to attract media attention to him... same goes with this Facial Karami. In the end, the facts speak for themselves, no M8ers die, how odd.
18 January 2013, 14:32
22
"Learn to be in touch with reality, and u will live longer.."
So in other words, accept Hezbollah having arms or else you will keep killing us?
M8 have a warped concept of what democracy is. See, civilized people don't assassinate politicians because they don't like what they are saying.
As for the rise of Tripoli Islamists, be careful what you wish for M8. You kept telling lies and lies and lies, well now your lies are starting to become truths, in no small part because people are tired of being oppressed by the Iranian proxy, the non-Lebanese Hezbollah.
18 January 2013, 14:33
22
You had your chance, from 2005 until 2011 to come sit down with Mustaqbal and become a fabric of the new Lebanon where political differences do not amount to violence on the streets. You missed your chance and the consequences are now apparent. You thought that you can kick us out of Lebanon or that you will remove us from politics with your arms. Now you see why you should have compromised, and how far we are willing to escalate things to defend our rights.
18 January 2013, 14:53
21
like aoun you mean when someone sneezed next to his car while he was a few kilometers away?
18 January 2013, 14:58
00
Who cares what happens to him... He is no better than the ones that got blown up before him... another feudal and tribal leader with no qualifications to be a janitor... But after all, where do we live ... Sweden?
18 January 2013, 15:31
21
“I think the unrest aims at targeting the country's security situation,”
since M8 is in power insecurity has been in the rise!!! so blame the gvt you are part of, incompetent minister!
18 January 2013, 15:49
22
ya flamethrower, hariri family is your best bet at moderate sunnis. your friends managed to kill hariri senior and kick hariri junior out of the country, so what is left?? the hardcore sunni extremists that you are seeing today. its all been planned well. hizballah which is an extremist shiite entety par excellence cannot survive in a moderate and tolerant country. this is all playing in there hands.
18 January 2013, 15:54
21
it s the typical M8 behavior: they create chaos then come and act like desperate victims to better manipulate peoples minds like FT... they ve learned well from their assad beloved leader...they set fire then come and say they are firefighters! and throw the blame on others...
18 January 2013, 17:11
31
you thought wrong sissy boy... but from a stupid M8er it doesn t surprise me... how can you think when you lack a brain!
18 January 2013, 17:13
21
FT nervousness is a sign of his desperation to lose his assads master...
18 January 2013, 19:45
22
first of all i am not habibak... second of all there is no need to get upset and sarcastically insult me. and my parents have no place in your dialect. try to be a bit mature. and when you make an argument, give proof. how do you know all wha you say about the hariris? do you have proof? or is it what aoun keeps telling his public? how do you knowwhat happened on may 5? who told you about the 1000 armed men? where did you get that from. plus lets say everything you said is true, who is behind nasrallah? isnt it the mullahs and assad? are they better than KSA? who is behind aoun isnt it nasrallah? there has been a tribunal going on for 9 yrs now that has over 30,000 peices of evidence relating to the suspects, how much evidence can you bring forth? before making judgements about the tribunal, why don't wait and see if really the proof is beyond doubt that hizballah members killed him. stop insulting people and make arguments based on facts. don't dig up nonexistenet graves like aoun.
18 January 2013, 16:24
23
friendly fire is when it is the same entity kills one of its own NOT when a milita kills a soldier, ghabaa2
18 January 2013, 16:53
23
"since hizb and army coordinate..." so are you telling me that the army knew that the hizb was going to kidnap the israeli soldiers in '06?
18 January 2013, 17:15
24
you do not think we as a public should know what our publicly funded army knew or didn't know about an event that caused havoc in Lebanon? So you agree that hizbocrap's armament is illegitimate, we're getting somewhere...
18 January 2013, 18:16
23
Friendly fire , LOl , so that is why there was an investigation and the guy was asked to be brought to the court eh ya ahbal ? Friendly fire ... Joke of the day , ty ya ahbal for the good laugh !
18 January 2013, 18:19
23
btw FT how old are you , seeing your logic and your replies you should not be over 12/13 , now srsly how old are you? becasue i dont want to use words that will hurt your innocent feelings
18 January 2013, 17:27
22
FT you are good at remembering all the bad stuff M14 has done but seem to forget that jame3tak closed the downtown for two years, started the 2006 war, invaded Beirut and killed people in 2008, among other things.
I don't care if Hezbollah represents the biggest sect in Lebanon. Having a majority doesn't mean that you can spit on the constitution and bully everyone else with your weapons.
18 January 2013, 17:27
23
As for your silly "find me proof that HA is involved in assassinations" don't make me laugh. Every single victim has been a anti-Assad or M14 and you trying to claim that it is Israel behind these assassinations go back to school and get an education. Blaming things on external sources is how dictators and armed gangs keep control over people and this is exactly the tactic that HA and Assad use on the people, they try to attract attention to an external threat while they rob us blind and kill our leaders and try to intimidate us.
If you want to carry weapons and fight with Israel for the next 50 years then let's just partition right here and now because we are interested in building a state, not living like animals and letting politicians send us off to our death while they sit around in their mansions and chalet's.
18 January 2013, 18:59
21
to whom does this attempt benefit to? hezbis as usual... by igniting tripoli it serves their propaganda that they have meticulously been spreading about an islamist north....
they set the fire and then come play firefighters... but it is so gross they don t fool the people!
18 January 2013, 19:16
31
jabal ? ask Hezb , they did it , and it was more pro than any other fanatic !
18 January 2013, 20:36
21
FT is a douche-bag, we should not even acknowledge his presence. He is nothing more than a scourge on moderate and intellectual people. He and his entire orange boota cannot debate like civilized people because the only thing they know how to do is lie, cheat and distort.
