A Russian national tricolor flag flutters in the wind near the burned Crocus City Hall concert hall, the scene of the gun attack, in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, on March 23, 2024. (Credit: stringer/AFP)
BEIRUT — Lebanon's Foreign Affairs Ministry and caretaker prime minister have both "strongly condemned" the terrorist attack that targeted a concert hall in the Russian capital Moscow on Friday.
Gunmen opened fire at a Moscow concert hall on Friday, killing at least 115 people and wounding over 100 others. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates strongly condemns the terrorist act that targeted [a concert hall] in the Russian capital Moscow, resulting in dozens of innocent victims and a large number of wounded," a statement from the ministry read.
The ministry also emphasized Lebanon's "solidarity" with Russia, its "absolute rejection and total condemnation of this criminal act, and stressed the importance of bringing the perpetrators to justice and inflicting just punishment on them, so that they can be an example to others."
Finally, the ministry "extended its deepest condolences to the families of the deceased, and to the government and people of Russia … and wished the injured a speedy recovery."
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, meanwhile, said in a telegram addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that “Lebanon strongly condemns the terrorist act that occurred last night in the capital, Moscow, and led to dozens of innocent victims, dead and wounded."
"Lebanon expresses its full solidarity with the Russian Federation and affirms its absolute rejection and complete denunciation of all forms of violence, extremism and terrorism," Mikati continued.
He concluded by sending his condolences and wishing "a speedy recovery to the injured.”