Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said the investigation into the bombing that killed a top Lebanese intelligence chief should be conducted locally without any international interference.

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Tuesday that the investigation into the bombing that killed a top Lebanese intelligence chief on Friday should be conducted locally without any international interference.

“Any attempt to give this case an international dimension will not be of any help, since the issue is a Lebanese issue and is the Lebanese judiciary’s responsibility,” he told Iranian IRNA news agency.

“The Lebanese cabinet decided to refer the case to the Judicial Council, which is the highest judicial authority in the country,” his eminence said.

Internal Security Forces intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan was assassinated on Friday in a car bombing in Beirut’s Ashrafieh. The blast killed at least two others and injured at least 126 people.

The Hezbollah official, while stating that the bombing was an “unusual incident given the country’s circumstances,” called on the Lebanese authorities to conduct “serious and effective” investigations to uncover the perpetrators, adding that the incident should not be politicized.

On Monday, officials declared that the United States will send a Federal Bureau of Investigation team to help Lebanon probe the Beirut car bombing that killed Hassan.

However, Sheikh Qassem said that the support voiced by some Western countries for the government of Prime Minister Najib Miqati were attempts to prevent any involvement from Lebanon in the Syrian crisis.

“We heard statements about supporting this government to consolidate internal stability, but what is really meant is that the repercussions of the Syrian crisis should not affect Lebanon, not for the sake of its stability but to prevent its use as a center for managing the Syrian crisis,” he concluded.