UN condemns Lebanon bombings, calls for unity

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations condemned the deadly double car bombing in Lebanon on Friday and appealed for restraint in the fractured country split over the war in neighboring Syria.
The attack killed 42 people and wounded hundreds more, making it the deadliest since the end of the country’s 1975-1990 civil war.
The UN Security Council “strongly condemned the terrorist attacks” in the northern city of Tripoli, and emphasized “the need to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
In a unanimous declaration, the 15-member Council “appealed to all Lebanese people to preserve national unity in the face of attempts to undermine the country’s stability.”
The statement also “stressed the importance for all Lebanese parties to respect Lebanon’s policy of disassociation and to refrain from any involvement in the Syrian crisis.”
UN chief Ban Ki-moon had separately called on all Lebanese to “exercise restraint, to remain united, and to support their state institutions.”
He addressed his call in particular to “the security forces, in maintaining calm and order in Tripoli and throughout the country, and in preventing the recurrence of such destructive actions.”
“The Secretary-General hopes that those responsible for such cowardly acts of violence will be brought to justice as soon as possible.”
The attack has further stoked fears that Syria’s civil war could boil over in even greater scale to Lebanon, where clashes have periodically erupted between supporters and opponents of the regime in Damascus.