Ban and UN Security Council condemn Beirut blast

Rescuers work on site of suicide bombing outside Iran's embassy in Beirut The UN Security Council and UN leader Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday condemned suicide bombs at the Iranian embassy in Beirut and called on Lebanese to stay out of the Syria conflict. The double attack killed at least 23 people and wounded almost 150 and heightened fears that Lebanon will be sucked into Syria's civil war.
The 15-member Security Council and Ban released statements that "strongly condemned" the attack.
The council "appealed to all Lebanese people to preserve national unity in the face of attempts to undermine the country's stability."
It "stressed the importance for all Lebanese parties to respect Lebanon's policy of disassociation and to refrain from any involvement in the Syrian crisis."
The UN secretary general "calls on all in Lebanon to recognize that such appalling and indiscriminate acts of violence target all in Lebanon," said deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq.
"He urges all Lebanese parties to act with restraint and to support the institutions of the state, and particularly the security forces, as they seek to prevent further acts of terrorism."
UN political chief Jeffrey Feltman on Tuesday highlighted to the UN Security Council reports that Lebanese militia Hezbollah was fighting with President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria "in clear violation" of a statement by Lebanese parties to stay out of the war.
Source: AFP