BEIRUT: Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said Lebanese must not worry that the war on terror would lead to an explosive situation, pointing to a regional and international agreement on the protection of Lebanon.
“We are in the middle of a very explosive area; we are not in an isolated island," Rifi said in a late-Wednesday interview with local MTV news.
“However,” he added, “there is an international and regional agreement as well as consensus among all the [local] parties to protect the country.”
Lebanon has been engaged in a war against ISIS and Nusra Front jihadis along its northern and northeastern border with Syria since the extremists briefly took over the Bekaa Valley town of Arsal early in August, capturing more than 30 Lebanese servicemen.
The country has been in a standoff with the militants since then amid negotiations to secure the release of the 25 remaining policemen and soldiers, who may be swapped for Islamists held in Lebanese and Syrian prisons.
Turning to fellow Lebanese citizens, Rifi said: “No one should fear an all-out explosive situation.”
He said that while Lebanon was not an open battlefield, the small country has “in part turned into a jihadi land,” stressing, nevertheless, that the Sunni street was not frustrated by the Future Movement, which still represents the majority.
Citing periodic polling, Rifi said Lebanon’s Sunnis are mostly moderate.
“The Sunni’s principle strategy is moderation,” he stressed.
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