“In order to confront those aiming at instigating division, it is inacceptable for Tripoli to be a city of poverty and deprivation because there is no peace where there is underdevelopment”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday visited the Tripoli district of Jabal Mohsen to offer condolences to the families of the victims of the recent suicide bombing that killed nine people and paid condolences to former Prime Minister Omar Karami’s family in Tripoli.

“We came here to thank you for the beacon of tolerance and entire Lebanon appreciates you for dousing the flames of vengeance,” said al-Rahi.

“In order to confront those aiming at instigating division, it is inacceptable for Tripoli to be a city of poverty and deprivation because there is no peace where there is underdevelopment,” the National News Agency (NNA) quoted Rahi as saying.

He urged the government to assume its responsibility toward Tripoli’s development, emphasizing that the Army and the security forces were the only guarantors to a decent and honorable life.

“We must rise above the wounds and seek the welfare of the country and the state must shoulder its responsibility regarding balanced development,” the patriarch added.

The twin suicide bombing was swiftly claimed by al-Qaida's Syria branch, al-Nusra Front, but Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq has said that the ISIL was behind the attack.

Rahi then headed to the Karami residence in Tripoli to pay condolences over the passing of late former Prime Minister.