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| Hezbollah criticises US
role in Beirut bomb probe BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Shiite movement Hezbollah, which is represented in Lebanon's cabinet alongside the anti-Syrian camp, has criticised US involvement in the probe into a bombing that maimed a prominent journalist. "We have reservations on the American security interference because we don't trust them, given the partial US policies towards Lebanon and the Arab world," a member of Hezbollah's leadership said Thursday in As-Safir newspaper. "We prefer Lebanon to turn to countries like Switzerland, Holland, Sweden and Norway, which have no political ambitions in the region and are impartial," said the unnamed official. Federal Bureau of Investigation anti-terrorist experts began a probe Wednesday into a bombing that seriously wounded LBC television journalist May Chidiac, following a Lebanese government appeal for help from Paris and Washington to halt a wave of such attacks. Five officers from the FBI examined the remains of the car in which Chidiac lost an arm and a leg when a bomb exploded under her seat. Hezbollah, which is backed by Damascus and Tehran, regularly accuses the United States of interference in Lebanese affairs, while Washington was a sponsor of a UN Security Council resolution demanding the group's disarmament. During a visit to Beirut on Thursday, Iran's parliament speaker underlined Tehran's opposition to all foreign intervention in Lebanon's internal affairs. "Iran backs the Lebanese people and is opposed to intervention by foreign parties in Lebanon's internal affairs," Gholam Ali Hadad-Adel told reporters. He was met by his Lebanese counterpart Nabih Berri, who said the Iranian visit came as "certain parties are trying to impose their hegemony in one way or another on Lebanon" since the February 14 assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri. Twelve unsolved attacks have taken place since Hariri and 20 others were killed in a massive bomb blast on the Beirut seafront that was widely blamed on Damascus, sparking repeated Syrian denials. Berri, who heads the pro-Syrian Amal movement, has also spoken out against US intervention in the investigation while Lebanon's prime minister has appealed for help from abroad. "We want to cooperate with all parties able to help us strengthen the capabilities of our security services," Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said, adding he had also sought assistance from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The head of LBC, the television station for which Chidiac worked, called Thursday on Lebanese officials to request a UN investigation to cover Chidiac's attack and the series of blasts that preceded it. A UN team led by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis has been investigating Hariri's killing and is due to submit its final report to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on October 21. |
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