Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea Tuesday urged the Lebanese government to pressure the Assad regime to hand over two Assad regime officers charged with involvement in the 2013 bombings of two mosques in the northern city of Tripoli.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Geagea said it was shameful for the Lebanese government to neglect acting against what he described as a “terrorist attack par excellence in which over 50 civilians were killed.”
He said that if the Assad regime fails to hand over the two officers, Syria’s Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali should be expelled, while Lebanon’s representative in Damascus Michel Khoury must be recalled.
Geagea said the Lebanese government should also issue a complaint against Bashar Assad to the United Nations Security Council.
Member of the Syrian Coalition’s political committee Okab Yahya said that the Assad regime has a proven history of planning such bombings targeting mainly civilians. Yahya cited the arrest of Michel Samaha, Lebanon’s former minister of information, who admitted he had smuggled explosives from Syria into Lebanon to carry out bombings at the orders of the Assad regime.
Meanwhile, nearly 50 people were killed and hundreds more injured in a series of bombings that rocked Damascus, Tartous Homs, and Hasaka on Monday. Although ISIS claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks, the Syrian opposition accused the Assad regime of orchestrating the attacks to present itself as the best alternative to terrorist groups. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Agencies)
