L’Orient le Jour – Aoun’s Criticism Contradicts Facts
L’Orient le Jour newspaper responded to Head of the Change and Reform bloc MP Michel Aoun’s accusations on Thursday that the paper was misleading and was inciting Lebanese people to fight, after publishing an article about the August 28th shooting of a military helicopter by Hezbollah gunmen.
The newspaper read that “We published on August 30 that slain Officer Samer Hanna was shot when the helicopter landed, and we received the information from ministerial sources.”
It added that it published news on September 1 that Officer Hanna was shot when the helicopter was 15 centimeters away from the ground according to sources close to the investigations.
The paper also said that on September 2, it emphasized that Hezbollah’s fighter, who the party handed in to authorities for Hanna’s death, thought that the helicopter was starting an Israeli airdrop before he shot at Officer Hanna.
L’Orient le Jour added that Aoun’s criticisms contradicted the facts.
It said that Hezbollah proved its complete coordination with the army to reveal the truth without exploiting the accident for political purposes.
The paper stressed its credibility and its right to publish its information.