Lebanese PM vows to catch Private Seán Rooney's killers

A photo of Private Seán Rooney in the hearse during his funeral in Dundalk last week. Pte Rooney was killed when the Defence Forces Unifil convoy he was travelling in was attacked in Lebanon. File picture: Colin Keegan/Collins

Private Seán Rooney’s killers will be caught and they will get what they deserve, the Lebanese prime minister has vowed.

Najib Mikati made the assurance at a meeting with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez.

Mr Mikati said that all the mechanisms of the Lebanese state have been deployed to catch them.

“All the security, military and judicial authorities have not and will not hesitate, even for a moment, in carrying out all their duties in terms of knowing the identity of the shooters and bringing them to justice so that they may receive their reward,” he said.

Speaking of the December 14 attack that led to Private Rooney being killed, Mr Mikati said his country “bow before the great sacrifices made by the international forces in the south”.

It comes as peacekeepers serving in Lebanon have been the butt of a "satirical" television sketch on Lebanese television. Beirut-based al-jadeed TV broadcast a sketch on its Fachet Khele programme which appeared to suggest peacekeepers sleep around while serving with Unifil.

Comedian Joanna Karaki remarked in a sketch which referenced where Unifil soldiers serve that “the majority of children in the South have green or blue eyes and are blond”.

The sketch, which referenced Italian and “English” soldiers, aired not long after the December 14 murder of Private Sean Rooney, who was serving with Unifil in southern Lebanon when he was shot.

The UN has so far declined to comment on the programme but it is understood Unifil chiefs are “genuinely shocked” at the TV station’s “insensitivity”.

A source within the organisation said: “TV in Lebanon is very liberal and sophisticated. But that one of the biggest TV stations in the country decided that this sketch and piece of comedy was appropriate so soon after a Unifil soldier was shot and killed in southern Lebanon is just utterly baffling.

"There is a chance that questions are going to be asked about this further down the line because it is just very, very insensitive. "

The sketch has been denounced by the Supreme Islamic Shia Council, which is the supreme body of the Shias of Lebanon as been “slanderous” against the Shiite community.

Hezbollah MP Ibrahim Moussawi also described the sketch as "an odious act" against women in the South.

In the early hours of Tuesday, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the TV station’s central Beirut offices.

According to a message it posted on the Twitter, the company stated: “At around 3am today, unknown persons threw a Molotov cocktail at the building in Wata al-Musaitbeh."

Naharnet.com reported that the two incidents are understood to be linked to “an uproar over a recent comedy segment” aired on al-Jadeed that was” deemed offensive to southerners and southern women”.

While at least one man has been arrested in connection with Private Rooney’s death, it is understood two other men who had been questioned have since been released.

An interim report into his killing is due to be released by next Tuesday.