BEIRUT: The March 8 coalition is responsible for the terrorism plaguing Lebanon the Committee of Muslim Scholars said Tuesday, calling on Hezbollah withdraw from Syria and the militants spread across the northeastern border to return to Syria.
“We reiterate our call to the so-called Hezbollah fighters to withdraw immediately from Syria, and we call on Syrian fighters immediately withdraw to Syria, where the real battle is,” said a statement issued by the committee in north Lebanon.
“A political team [March 8] which supports the need for alliance with the terrorist [Syrian President Bashar] Assad cannot be honest in the fight against terrorism,” the scholars said.
They accused March 8 of dragging the Lebanese Army into a confrontation with the people, adding that the Hezbollah-led alliance was “responsible for everything that is happening in Lebanon by sending armed militias to kill people in Syria.”
Addressing the Lebanese government, the scholars said the solution to ending the consequences of Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria was "not by implicating the Lebanese Army ... but pushing for Hezbollah’s withdrawal from Syria.”
They called for the deployment of U.N. peacekeeping troops along the Lebanese-Syrian border.
The scholars expressed support for both the residents of the Bekaa Valley border town of Arsal, as well as the families of the Lebanese soldiers and policemen held captive by Islamist militants.
“We declare next Friday a day of solidarity in all mosques under the title ‘no to Arsal’s slaugher,’” the statement said.
To the hostages’ families, the scholars said that “the solution is not with the Lebanese government and not with the Qataris. The solution is with those disrupting negotiations inside the Cabinet.”
“Do not stop your pressure on ministers, minister after minister,” they urged.
The scholars also sympathized with Islamist inmates held at Roumieh Prison for their alleged involvement in the 2007 war between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam in the northern Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared.
One of the demands of the ISIS and Nusra Front jihadists who are holding at least 21 Lebanese soldiers and policemen hostage was an exchange of the captives with the Islamist prisoners. They have also demanded that Hezbollah withdraws from Syria.
“To Islamist inmates ... We were hoping that you would return to your families who have been suffering for years without killing [taking place] in your name,” the statement said.
ISIS has beheaded two Lebanese soldiers and Nusra recently released a video showing a Lebanese soldier being shot dead.
“We hope you will soon be released from this terrible injustice.”
The statement also referred to a YouTube video that has recently surfaced showing Lebanese soldiers allegedly beating and abusing Syrian refugees.
“The documented violations we saw were shocking, inhumane and inappropriate attitude by the Lebanese security members against Arsal residents and Syrian refugees ... this necessitates sounding the alarm and considering what happened has exceeded all red lines.”
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