MP: Lebanese troops search for ‘terrorists’ on Syria border

The Lebanese Army has carried out raids using helicopters in villages bordering Syria in search of “terrorist” groups at the request of the Syrian regime, Akkar MP Khaled Daher said Sunday.Daher also accused the Lebanese government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati ordering the army operation at the request of Damascus authorities. “Lebanese troops landed by helicopter in a mountainous area and in the Wadi Khaled area in search of what the Syrian regime told the Lebanese government were ‘terrorists,’” Daher told The Daily Star by telephone. He said that the army also set up checkpoints in the area as part of a security plan to control the tense Lebanese-Syrian border. So far, there has been no comment from the Army Command on the reported military operation in the Wadi Khaled area near the border with Syria. Daher, a member of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc, which supports the popular uprising demanding the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad, said Friday’s military operation came at the request of the Syrian regime. He noted that the army move followed meetings held separately by the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali and the head of the Higher Lebanese-Syrian Council Nasri Khoury with President Michel Sleiman last week to convey a request from the Syrian authorities to tighten security measures on the Lebanese-Syrian border in order to prevent the smuggling of arms and fighters to Syrian protesters. Ali also met with Army Commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi for this purpose.“The Syrian regime is exerting pressure on the Lebanese government in order for the government to pressure Lebanese sympathizing with Syrian protesters,” Daher said. He also warned against attacking Lebanese residents in towns and villages near the border with Syria because they support anti-regime protesters in Lebanon’s neighbor. “We want the Lebanese Army deployed on the Lebanese-Syrian border to defend Lebanese citizens and Lebanese sovereignty against Syrian attacks,” Daher said. He added that eight Lebanese have been killed in Syrian border incursions since the uprising began in Syria in March last year. Media reports said that the Lebanese Army was searching for armed groups rumored to belong to the rebel Free Syrian Army which is fighting Assad’s regular troops. But Daher dismissed reports about the presence of the FSA in northern Lebanese areas as “fabrications” created by the Hezbollah-led March 8 parties which strongly support the Assad regime. Meanwhile, Ahmad Hariri, the secretary-general of the Future Movement, urged Kahwagi to distance the army from developments in Syria. “[I urge] the army’s leadership to refrain from involving the army in what the Syrian government is planning,” Hariri told Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper in an interview published Sunday. He added that the government cannot provide political cover for what the army is doing in Akkar. “Some in Lebanon insist on getting [us] involved in the Syrian crisis, which has begun to affect Lebanon given what the Lebanese Army is doing in the Akkar region,” he added, referring to the Lebanese Army’s increased presence in the Akkar region, particularly the Bekaa town of Arsal. Syria has repeatedly urged Lebanon to prevent arms smuggling on the border, prompting Lebanon’s Higher Defense Council to tighten security measures on the poorly demarcated frontier and curb the transfer of weapons from one country to the other. The council’s decision came after Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn said that Al-Qaeda members were entering Arsal under the guise of Syrian opposition activists. However, Ghosn’s claims have been denied by Sleiman, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel. Last week, Charbel chaired a meeting of a committee formed to control the Lebanese-Syrian border following a series of security incidents, including a recent attack by Syrian forces on three Lebanese fishermen off the border town of Arida in the north that led to the death of a teenager. The committee’s meeting came against the backdrop of repeated security incidents on the border, including Syrian incursions into Lebanese territory, prompting calls from the opposition March 14 parties for the deployment of the Lebanese Army on the frontier to prevent what they said were repeated Syrian border violations and protect Lebanese citizens. The Lebanese-Syrian border has become increasingly tense since the popular upheaval in Syria erupted last year, with several incursions by the Syrian army and the killing of Lebanese citizens by Syrian security forces. The Mikati government has tried to dissociate itself from the turmoil in Syria and has avoided deploying the army along the border with Syria despite the Syrian incursions that led to the deaths of some Lebanese by Syrian gunfire. Beirut - The Daily star