BEIRUT: Hezbollah won't assault Syrian refugees, an official assured Sunday, after the Nusra Front and ISIS warned that any attempts to target Syrians in the country would result in the deaths of more captives.
“We will not assault any Syrian refugees,” said the head of Hezbollah's religious committee, Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek, arguing that such a move would only serve to spark sectarian and civil strife.
“If ISIS and those aiding it are planning on sectarian strife in this country, then we will turn off the sectarian flame,” he said.
The Hezbollah official expressed his party’s commitment to coexistence and civil peace, calling on all religious sects to provide a unified front against threats facing the country.
Tensions have been rising in the country following ISIS' beheading of two Lebanese soldiers in the past weeks, with a flyer surfacing in Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight Saturday following the news of Medlej’s slaughter.
“In honor of our brothers Ali al-Sayyed and Abbas Medlej, we request of all Syrians, without exception, to leave this street by Sept. 15,” the flyer stated.
In the Bekaa Valley, Syrian refugees residing in a camp near the Riyaq Baalbek - Hawsh al-Ghanam highway near Baalbek, packed their belongings and left towards the western Bekaa.
In further evidence of mounting tensions, several tents belonging to Syrian refugees were set ablaze in the Bekaa town of Brital.
Concerns over revenge attacks on Syrian refugees have prompted both ISIS and Nusra to release statements late Saturday warning against any assault.
“The response will be harsh and we will start killing our military detainees” if Hezbollah infringes on Syrian refugees in Lebanon, warned the Nusra Front in a statement released on Twitter.
Similarly, ISIS said that any infringement on a Syrian refugee would prompt a very harsh response, saying that it would hold the Lebanese government accountable for the slaughter of all Shiite captives.
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