Islamist militants holding 25 servicemen hostage and holed up in the rugged mountains of the northeastern town of Arsal might launch attacks on Lebanese troops stationed in the area in the next few days or weeks, especially during the Christmas and New Year holidays, political sources said Monday.
However, the Lebanese Army is fully prepared to confront these attacks and is ready for sacrifices in order to ward off the specter of fighting in Lebanon and to prevent the country’s territory from being turned into a battlefield, said the sources, who are following up the military situation in Arsal.
They added that the more severe the weather becomes, the closer the date of a confrontation between the militants and the Lebanese Army.
Describing the Army’s latest measures around Arsal as a clear response to the Nusra Front’s killing of captive policeman Ali Bazzal last Friday, one of the sources said: “The Lebanese security forces, including the Army, the Internal Security Forces, State Security and General Security, are in an open but undeclared battle against the terrorists.”
The Army blocked all roads linking Arsal to the surrounding rugged mountains.
According to the sources, measures and wide-scale precautions have been taken to defend state institutions and military personnel against possible terrorist attacks in all areas of Lebanon.
The military is behaving as if the “terrorists” – a reference to ISIS and Nusra Front militants holding the 25 servicemen hostage – do not want a solution for the four-month-old hostage crisis, and are instead bent on blackmailing the state, the Army and the families of the captive soldiers, the sources said. They added that the militants did not even show any good intentions regarding the release of some of the hostages.
Noting that the Army’s military position is excellent, the sources said that from now on if the militants harmed any soldier, they would be met with tough measures that would make their lives hell. The sources did not elaborate.
According to the sources, the Lebanese state is sure and has compelling evidence that one of the two women recently arrested by authorities, Saja al-Dulaimi, is the ex-wife of ISIS commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who is the father of her daughter Hajer. Baghdadi is better known among his followers as Abu Hajer.
Baghdadi was constantly in contact with Dulaimi and seized written documents, including a letter from the ISIS commander himself, have proved this, the sources said.
They added that the Lebanese Army has purchased weapons from several countries, including France, worth nearly $300 million, using a $1 billion Saudi grant, after the military had presented a list of its needs to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who approved it.
The sources said the Lebanese Army Command did not receive a cent to purchase weapons or negotiate over arms deals, which categorically refutes reports about alleged commissions.
Elsewhere, the Cabinet will not discuss an Iranian military gift to the Army, in order to avoid a row among ministers, as well as a problem with Western states since Washington considers the acceptance of the gift to be a violation of Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran.
On Saudi Arabia’s gift of $3 billion that was pledged last December to fund the purchase of weapons from France to bolster Lebanon’s military, the sources said French experts are holding meetings with Army officers at the Defense Ministry in Yarze to put the final touches to the military’s needs, before submitting them to the French authorities, who would then forward them to the Saudis for payment.
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