BEIRUT: Political figures voiced staunch support for the Lebanese Army Sunday, as the military fought to contain the worst outbreak of violence in north Lebanon in months.
Clashes in north Lebanon erupted after an Army unit was attacked in the Tripoli neighborhood of Khan al-Askar Friday night in retaliation for the arrest of an alleged ISIS member detained Thursday during a raid in Dinnieh.
The Lebanese Army launched a campaign targeting the hideouts of militants in Tripoli Sunday, after the fighting in the city’s old souks intensified overnight Saturday, with numerous civilians, soldiers and militants reported dead.
Sidon MP Bahia Hariri expressed her support for the Lebanese Army in a statement, mourning the destruction reaped in the northern capital.
“All of Lebanon is bleeding today with the unfortunate and painful events in our beloved Tripoli and other northern areas,” read the statement issued Sunday.
Hariri contacted several figures to ensure that fallout from Tripoli would not reach Sidon, including Samir Shehadeh, the head of the Internal Security Forces Information Branch in the south, and Ali Shahrour, the head of Army Intelligence in the south.
Hariri also contacted Maj. Gen. Sobhi Abu Arab, the Fatah Movement’s head of security, to maintain order in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh.
Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai also lauded the efforts of the military during a Sunday Mass at the Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral in Sydney, Australia, where he traveled for an official visit.
“It pains all of us [to witness] the assault on the Lebanese Army in Tripoli,” Rai said. “And here we are today all of us expressing our full support to the military institution and the security forces in Lebanon.”
Defense Minister Samir Moqbel met Army chief Gen. Jean Kahwagi, who briefed him on the latest developments at the headquarters of the Army Command in Yarze.
Moqbel praised the thoroughness of Lebanese Army units deployed in the north, the speed with which they launched their offensive and their dedication to protecting civilians.
“The latest incidents in Tripoli reveal that the Army and other security forces are qualified and capable of defending Lebanon when the need arises,” Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said in a statement issued by his media office Sunday.
“As long as Muslim leadership in Lebanon remains vigilant and brave, and as long as military and security institutions in Lebanon remain ready, then Lebanon has nothing to fear,” he said, praising the leadership role of former premier Saad Hariri.
Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel also voiced his backing of the Army and the residents of Tripoli in a statement.
“All the Lebanese care about Tripoli’s wounds,” Gemayel said. “It is time to put an end to violations of national sovereignty and the security of the city and attacks on the Army.”
Hezbollah MP Nawwaf Musawi expressed trust in the Army and its operations against extremists in Tripoli and Akkar, but said the military would soon need supplies.
“The Lebanese Army is now fighting a fierce war imposed on it by the takfiri groups,” Musawi said at a graduation ceremony in Tyre.
Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said Sunday the Army’s actions in north Lebanon weren’t against Sunnis. Rather, Rifi said he believes Hezbollah was trying to exploit the security situation to stir sectarian strife.
“Although we have a feeling that someone is hiding behind institutions to push for strife,” he said in a veiled reference to the resistance, “and we condemn this, we will not contribute to it by allowing for the state and its institutions to be undermined.”
“I heard some voices and sides describing the events in Tripoli now and other areas of the north as a war on the Sunni people,” Rifi said in his statement. “I reject such statements.”
Rifi said many Sunnis had been targeted because they stood with the state, mentioning late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and late Mufti Hasan Khaled.
Rifi also called on residents of north Lebanon to put their trust in the Future Movement.
Tripoli MPs and local officials called for an immediate cease-fire to the fighting in north Lebanon Sunday and held a meeting to reach that end which was attended by Rifi, a representative of former Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the Muslim Scholars Committee and other officials.
Akkar’s mufti, however, criticized Sunday the military’s offensive and called on it to reconsider its campaign and the use of force in its battle against Tripoli’s jihadists, while pleading with extremists to stop attacking the Army.
“Who is pushing the Army toward a military solution against militants, even though it threatens the lives of soldiers and civilians?” Sheikh Zeid Zakaria asked in a statement.
“We reject the targeting of the state and its security agencies and Army, but we also reject the targeting of civilians and mosques, and we find no justification for the use of the air force and airstrikes killing innocent people.” – The Daily Star
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