Rocket attack on Future TV

Reporters Without Borders voiced concern today about a rocket attack last night on the studios of Future TV (Al-Mustaqbal), a television station owned by Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. The station's chief executive Ali Jaber and information minister Michel Samaha said the rocket caused serious damage but no injuries. The attack was "very worrying," Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said, pointing out that there had been no violence of this kind against the news media since the end of the civil war in 1990. "Whatever the political difficulties in Lebanon and in the region, we call on everyone to respect the integrity of the media and not put the lives of news media workers in danger," he said. Ménard also called for a prompt investigation into the attack, which was not immediately claimed by any organisation. Radio Orient, a radio station also owned by the prime minister, is located in the same building as Future TV. Reporters Without Borders has expressed concern about press freedom violations on several occasions in the past year or so in Lebanon, which used to be an oasis of press freedom in the Arabic countries of the Middle-East.