CAIRO: The Arab League condemned Wednesday’s “terrorist bombing in Lebanon that killed a top army officer and his bodyguard, hoping it would not further delay the election of a new president.
Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa “vigorously condemned the terrorist explosion which targeted General Francois El-Hajj, Egypt’s official Mena news agency reported.
Moussa stressed the need “to protect Lebanese national unity, and appealed to “Lebanese political parties to head for an agreement on naming a new president of the republic as quickly as possible.
The head of the Cairo-based organization expressed confidence that “today’s events won’t have a negative influence on efforts aimed at finding a solution to the presidential crisis.
Hajj was a close ally of army commander General Michel Sleiman, the frontrunner to become Lebanon’s next president but whose election has been blocked by a standoff between pro- and anti-Syrian camps in Beirut.
The brigadier general and his bodyguard were killed in a rush-hour blast that rocked the suburb of Baabda, southeast of Beirut, early on Wednesday. -AFP
