Rockets land near presidential palace in Lebanon

No casualties reported; blasts follow President Suleiman’s criticism of Hezbollah over its involvement in Syria

2 August 2013, 2:04 am

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Lebanese President Michel Suleiman (photo credit: Lawrence Jackson/Official White House Photo)

BEIRUT (AP) — At least two rockets slammed Thursday night into an area south of the Lebanese capital that houses the Defense Ministry and presidential palace, Lebanon’s state-run news agency said.

There were no casualties from the rockets which fell in Beirut’s Fayadiyyeh area.

It was not immediately clear who fired the rockets or from where. Eyewitnesses said one fell only a few meters from an entrance to the presidential palace.

The blasts were the latest in a series of rocket attacks that have targeted areas just south of the capital in the past two months — a direct fallout from the civil war in neighboring Syria.

Lebanon is deeply divided along sectarian lines and between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The attack comes on the same day that President Michel Suleiman gave a speech for Army Day in which he criticized the involvement of the militant Lebanese Hezbollah group in the Syrian civil war in support of Assad’s forces.

Suleiman called for Hezbollah’s weapons to be folded under that of the Lebanese army’s. The group has a formidable weapons arsenal that rivals that of the national army.