AMAL Postpones Sadr Disappearance Commemoration, Berri to Give Televised Speech

AMAL Movement announced on Saturday postponing a mass rally that was to be held in the southern Nabatiyeh province to mark the 35th anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr and his two companions.

"We have decided to postpone the commemoration of the disappearance of Sadr and his companions and the new date for the event will be announced later,” a statement released by AMAL said following an urgent meeting for the party's leadership committee, which was presided over by Speaker Nabih Berri.

The statement explained that the decision was taken after evaluating the situation in the country.

“We have postponed the event following the terrorist attacks and the blood that was shed to cause sedition between the Lebanese in general, and between Muslims in particular. We took this decision to express our strong condemnation of the series of organized terrorist crimes that are targeting the country and to avoid another chance of possible random killings. ”

AMAL Movement pointed out that Berri will instead give a televised speech on Saturday, August 31, 2013 at 5:30 pm.

"The date and time of the postponed rally will be revealed later on.”

The party reiterated in the released statement its commitment to the approach adopted by Sadr “to prevent sedition between the Lebanese though stressing on national unity and dialogue.”

Earlier on Saturday, al-Akhbar newspaper published said that security officials advised AMAL to cancel the rally.

I said the warnings come in light of information obtained by security agencies that terrorists will target the anniversary.

“An explosive-laden car in Nabatiyeh is set to explode in such popular scenes,” the daily reported.

Lebanon has been a scene of violent attacks in recent day.

On Friday, two powerful blasts rocked the northern city of Tripoli, killing over 45 people and wounding 900 others.

These attacks came eight days after 27 people were killed and around 300 wounded in a car bombing that rocked the Beirut southern suburb of Rweiss, a Hizbullah bastion.