Assailants target Lebanese TV station Al Jadeed with hand grenade

Unidentified attackers have targeted the headquarters of a Lebanese television channel with a hand grenade, according to the news outlet.

The assailants threw the hand grenade out of a car as they sped past Al Jadeed TV’s offices in central Beirut in the early hours of Saturday.

A video posted on Al Jadeed’s website showed smashed car windows and broken glass after the grenade hit a parked car near the TV station’s main entrance.

No injuries were reported and the motive behind the attack remains unclear.

Speaking on live television, head of the station’s public relations Ibrahim al-Halabi, said security guards had spotted a group of young men driving near the building earlier in the night.

Halabi, who said that Al Jadeed TV has been the target of previous attacks on its offices and its journalists, called on security forces to follow up on the incident and hold those responsible to account.

Demonstrators attacked the headquarters of Al Jaddeed TV two years ago to protest a broadcast they said was insulting to Lebanese Shia Imam Musa al-Sadr, who went missing 40 years ago in Libya.

During the February 2017 incident, around 300 people, some carrying flags of Lebanon’s Shia Amal Movement, tried to storm the channel’s headquarters, throwing fireworks, stones and eggs at the building.

Lebanon announced the formation of a government on Thursday ending over eight months of wrangling amid heightened fears of a major economic collapse.

The new government will include most of Lebanon’s rival factions, who have been negotiating over the makeup of the cabinet since the May 6 election that saw allies of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group gain ground.