BEIRUT, 16 June 2003 — Two rockets hit a television station owned by Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri yesterday, setting some studios ablaze but causing no injuries, the head of Future Television said.
Ali Jaber said the rockets were launched at the Future TV building from a white BMW car parked nearby, piercing the walls and exploding inside.
“We don’t know who would benefit from doing such a thing or why,” Jaber said. “There is no doubt it is serious and it is meant to be a message for the television but we don’t know who from.”
A previously unknown Islamic group calling itself Ansar Allah claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement faxed to Reuters.
“Our...operation comes to affirm anew that we will not allow anyone, regardless of their influence and position, to direct their poisoned arrows at the heart of the resistance and jihad (holy war)...and take a stab at their legitimacy,” it said.
“This operation is nothing but a warning and the first...of future directed operations that will be more severe,” it added, without elaborating.
Security forces fanned out in the area and a senior Lebanese security source said they were investigating the incident, the first of its kind since the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. Jaber said the station was taking safety precautions after the attack.
Lebanon’s Information Minister Michel Samaha condemned the attack, which took place at about 1:30 a.m. (2230 GMT), saying it shook stability in the whole country.
“This message is not directed at Future station only, it hits the stability and security of the country and we condemn this act in the strongest terms,” he said after touring the Beirut seaside site, which also houses Lebanon’s Radio Orient.
Programming on both Future TV’s satellite and terrestrial channels was not disrupted by the attack.
Lebanese authorities have detained more than 30 people in recent weeks in connection with a string of bombings against American-style restaurants and an alleged plot to attack the US Embassy.
Hariri, a billionaire businessman who also owns a daily newspaper, has been embroiled in a lengthy spat with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud over a range of contentious economic and political issues. He toured the building, which mainly houses the news operation, yesterday and condemned the attack.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s finance minister said yesterday he had been banned from entering the United States for donating some $650 to an Islamic charity three years ago.
“I was verbally informed of the travel ban a few weeks ago,” Fouad Siniora said by telephone. “I was absolutely shocked that a superpower could take such a decision.”
Siniora said the US ambassador to Lebanon, Vincent Battle, had told him he was not welcome in the United States after making a donation at a dinner sponsored by the Lebanese Al-Mabarrat Charity Association.
