Lebanon’s caretaker defence minister Maurice Slim was unharmed on Thursday after his car encountered gunfire, stated the country’s interior minister.
On Thursday afternoon, as Slim’s vehicle was travelling in the Jisr el-Bashra neighbourhood on the southeast edge of Beirut, bullets struck a window of his car, according to a security source and a political source.
Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi informed reporters that security services are conducting an investigation to determine whether the incident was a deliberate attack or the result of stray bullets.
“In any case, we are grateful to God for the safety of the defence minister,” added Mawlawi.
An anonymous security source confirmed to Reuters that the bullets were stray shots and dismissed the notion of an assassination attempt on Slim’s life.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s army has been deployed in a Christian village in the mountains southeast of Beirut after a violent shootout occurred between residents and members of the Shi’ite group Hezbollah.
Maya Gebeily reporting; Edit by Mark Potter.
Credit: The Star : News Feed
