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Jumblat Says Israel behind Dahieh Blast

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat accused Israel of being behind Thursday's blast that rocked Beirut's southern suburb.

"I accuse Israel of being behind the explosion in Dahieh,” Jumblat told LBCI television shortly after the blast, calling on the state's bodies to “consolidate and intensify their work.”

Later on Thursday, Jumblat explained to MTV that Israel is the only “beneficiary of what is taking place,” noting that the Free Syrian Army had denied its involvement in the previous attack on Dahieh.

On July 9, a booby-trapped car exploded at a parking lot in Bir al-Abed, leaving 53 people wounded and causing extensive material damage.

Jumblat remarked: “We must gradually learn to accept Hizbullah's possession of weapons until the decision in this matter is taken by the party.”

The Druze leader said that “no group in Lebanon can exclude the participation of another in the new cabinet.”

"We should get out of the current deadlock and solve our problems by forming a council of ministers that aims at securing the national interest.”

At least 14 people were killed and 212 others wounded in a car bombing that rocked Hizbullah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday afternoon.

The blast went off on the public road between Bir al-Abed and Ruwais, according to several television channels.

A group calling itself the Brigades of Aisha Umm al-Moemeneen has claimed the Dahieh blast in a YouTube video.


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