US warns of ‘spill-over violence’ from Syria crisis

    By IANS,

    Washington: The US is very concerned by violence in Lebanon and sees the killing of a Hezbollah commander as an example of negative impact from the Syria conflict, the US State Department said Wednesday.

    “We’ve been very concerned by recurring instances of sectarian and political violence in Lebanon,” Xinhua reported citing State Department spokesperson Marie Harf at a press conference.

    Hezbollah official Hajj Hassan Hollo al-Laqqis was killed overnight Wednesday near his residence in the Lebanese capital of Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to a statement issued by Hezbollah, which accused Israel of carrying out the assassination.

    “We’ve talked about the negative impacts that Syria has had in Lebanon and Iraq and elsewhere in the region…and the spill-over violence that we’ve tragically seen,” Harf said.

    The US called on all parties to cooperate with a full investigation into the incident, the spokesperson said.