BEIRUT: Washington stands alongside Lebanon in its fight against terrorism, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a letter Saturday, expressing his country’s continued support for the Army.
“Kerry expressed his appreciation for what Lebanon is doing in its war against terrorism and thanked [Lebanon’s Foreign Affairs] Minister [Gebran] Bassil for participating in the international effort in that regard” in a letter to Bassil, according to the minister’s office.
Kerry said the “U.S. stood alongside Lebanon in its war on ISIS on the Lebanese border and inside and expressed the U.S.' continued cooperation and military support.”
Kerry and Bassil attended a regional conference in Saudi Arabia last month to discuss ways to deal with ISIS.
Lebanon has not officially joined the U.S.-led international coalition to fight ISIS in Syria and Iraq due to disputes among political parties, with Hezbollah accusing the U.S. of creating the radical group in the first place.
The Lebanese Army battled ISIS and Nusra Front militants in August in the border region of Arsal, which gunmen sought to overrun. The military has since then engaged in intermittent clashes with militants near the border.
The U.S. has delivered light and heavy weapons to Lebanon in the past few weeks estimated over $9 million.
In the letter, Kerry also expressed Washington’s commitment in pursing and holding terrorists such as ISIS accountable for their crimes.
The U.S. official explained the stages and steps that the U.S. is taking form a wide international coalition to combat ISIS and the likes.
“Kerry said he understood fears that the minister has about ISIS and other terrorist organizations threatening minorities in the east ... But President Barak Obama is adamant on not allowing anyone to root out such components from their original land,” the statement said.
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