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Russia denounces Lebanon blasts as ‘act of terror’

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Russia has strongly condemned as a “terrorist act” the fatal twin bombings outside the Iranian Embassy in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on Tuesday that Moscow denounces the “bloody attack” targeting a “diplomatic mission” and called for punishing those behind the explosions for sparking violence in the restive region.

The double attacks were carried out on Tuesday in Beirut’s southern neighborhood of Jinah, killing at least 23 people, including Iran’s cultural attaché to Beirut Hojjatoleslam Ebrahim Ansari.

The incident left about 150 people wounded.

“The incident again underscores the need to stop those who via a series of bloody attacks in Lebanon, in Syria, in Iraq and other countries in the Middle East and north Africa, seek to rekindle hatred between faiths, which is disastrous for the region and its people,” the statement said.

The United Nations Security Council and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also issued statements that “strongly condemned” the deadly blasts.

The 15-member council appealed to all the people in Lebanon “to preserve national unity in the face of attempts to undermine the country’s stability.”

According to deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq, the UN chief called on all in the Middle Eastern country to recognize that “such appalling and indiscriminate acts of violence target all in Lebanon.”

Ban extended his condolences to the families of those killed in the attack as well as the Iranian and Lebanese governments.

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati deplored the bombings as “a cowardly terrorist act.”

Syria’s Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi also slammed the attacks and blamed them on Saudi Arabia and some other Arab Persian Gulf states as well as the Israeli regime, saying that they seek to promote “the culture of terrorism and spread it in the region.”

On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said the Tel Aviv regime is behind the deadly terrorist bombings.

She added that the move was an “inhumane crime and a spiteful measure” by the Zionist Israeli regime and its mercenaries.

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