Rocket fire disrupts ceremony for missing Lebanon militant

by **Admin** Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:29 am

Two rocket-propelled grenades were fired on Sunday over a ceremony for a missing Lebanese militant being attended by a Hezbollah lawmaker, a security official said.

Hezbollah MP Hussein al-Haj Hasan was addressing the event in Minya, north of the city of Tripoli, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the suspected abduction by Israel of militant Yehya Skaff, when the incident occurred.

The ceremony continued despite the rockets and no casualties were reported, the security official told AFP. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

Extensive security measures had been taken for the event after threats from the area's residents to sabotage the ceremony if Hezbollah attended.

Minya is considered a stronghold of supporters of Lebanon's Western-backed government which is mired in a major political crisis with the Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran.

Skaff was a militant who fought alongside the main Palestinian Liberation Organisation faction Fatah and is thought to have taken part in a bus hijacking in northern Israel that left at least 35 Israelis dead in the late 1970s.

Hezbollah claims that Skaff has been jailed in Israel since for the past 30 years but Israel has denied the charge.

The Shiite militant movement has claimed one of its goals in its fight against Israel is to free all Lebanese prisoners held in Israel -- including Samir Qantar, the longest-held prisoner in Israel who has been detained by Israel since 1980.