BEIRUT: A special security team, backed by emergency rescue workers, prepared to deploy Tuesday in an east Lebanon border village that has been cut off from the rest of the country by Syrian troops.
Tfail, which lies in an enclave surrounded by Syrian territory, was cut off from the rest of Lebanon after the only accessible road to the Bekaa Valley came under Syrian army control as part of the regime’s offensive to root out rebels in the Qalamoun region.
The team – made up from officers drawn from the Lebanese Army, Internal Security Forces and General Security –assembled in the eastern city of Baalbek in the morning in preparation for the operation.
Lebanese Red Cross teams were also set to enter Tfail to evacuate the wounded according to a plan announced Monday by Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk.
Aid trucks, too, were ready to go to Tfail to deliver their load of 1,000 food packages.
Residents said the village, home to 3,000 Lebanese and around 5,000 Syrian refugees, came under heavy bombardment last week.
Machnouk said that if the plan does not work, he would take the case to the Cabinet and file a complaint to the United Nations Security Council over the besieged village.
The Future Movement-affiliated minister defended his coordination with Hezbollah over Tfail, saying his priority was to manage the humanitarian impact of the crisis.
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