The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri warned Hezbollah that Arsal would not be turned into a “scapegoat” for its Qalamoun offensive, adding that the party would fail in its efforts to drag the Lebanese Army into the conflict.
“Arsal [should] not be made a scapegoat for Hezbollah’s defiance of the national consensus,” Hariri tweeted Thursday.
“Before asking Arsal any question, let them ask themselves what they are doing in Qalamoun. Who authorized them to trespass [across] the border with weapons and militants, and bring terrorism into Lebanese territory?” the Future Movement leader added.
In a weekend speech, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said that if the state does not drive jihadis from the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, then his party’s fighters will do it themselves.
Hezbollah and the Syrian Army began a military operation against rebels in Syria’s Qalamoun Mountains earlier this month, pushing militants north. Many have withdrawn toward the outskirts of Arsal, and joined up with fighters already positioned there.
There are fears that militants will overrun Arsal as they did last August, when fighters from ISIS and the Nusra Front briefly took over the town. The two groups are still holding 25 Army and Internal Security Forces personnel who were captured in the fighting.
Hariri said attempts to drag the Lebanese Army into battles, “[where] Hezbollah determines the time and place,” will not succeed, adding, “We will not remain silent” on the issue.
“The voices that threaten Arsal with destruction and doom will not achieve their goals, however loud these voices may be.”
The situation in Arsal was brought up by ministers from Hezbollah and Michel Aoun’s bloc in a Cabinet session Thursday. Prime Minister Tammam Salam promised the issue would be addressed at a later session.
Speaking after the meeting, Hezbollah Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan said he raised the issue of Arsal because of his party’s eagerness to preserve Lebanon’s stability.
Education Minister Elias Bou Saab, from Aoun’s bloc, said, “There are reports that the Nusra Front will invade Arsal, and we want to know the government’s position on this issue.”
Speaking to The Daily Star, ministerial sources said Salam explained to the ministers that the situation was currently in the hands of the Army.
“We will re-evaluate the situation there and based on the outcome we will decide when to discuss the topic,” Salam was quoted as saying.
The sources said they expected Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi would be invited to attend the Cabinet session when the premier puts the issue forward for discussion.
Kahwagi could explain to ministers the Army’s plan to remove jihadi militants from Arsal’s outskirts.
Defense Minister Samir Moqbel said the Army was ready to defend Lebanon’s eastern border, but that an offensive against the jihadis would require a Cabinet decision.
Moqbel said the Army had the support of the Cabinet, but its operational authority would not cover entering Arsal’s outskirts to push out jihadi militants.
“The Army’s duty is to stand on Arsal’s outskirts [and] to close crossings that allow the infiltration of militants [into Lebanese villages].”
“An attack on the militants requires a political decision.”
Police experts dismantled a car rigged with 35 kilograms of explosives on the outskirts of the town early Thursday.
An Internal Security Forces statement said its Judicial Police branch dismantled a white Fiat, which was parked 100 meters from a Lebanese Army checkpoint.
Meanwhile, a military source familiar with negotiations to release the servicemen held by the Nusra Front said talks had achieved significant progress. He said he expected results to materialize soon if no new obstacles emerge.
The source said that a Qatari envoy negotiating the deal in Turkey is scheduled to arrive in Beirut in the next 24 hours in order to put the final touches on the agreement