Aoun: Army must oust jihadis from Arsal outskirts
Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star/Jun. 01, 2015
BEIRUT: Declaring that Islamist militants occupying a large swath of territory on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal posed a danger to Lebanon, MP Michel Aoun warned Sunday that the Army would lose if it did not act to oust jihadis threatening to destabilize the country.
The warning by the Free Patriotic Movement leader was the latest in an escalating campaign aimed at forcing the government to give the Army a free hand to crack down on ISIS and Nusra Front militants holed up in rugged mountainous caves on Arsal’s outskirts.
Meanwhile, Syrian warplanes bombarded militants’ hideouts on Arsal’s outskirts Sunday morning, Lebanese security sources said. There was no immediate word on casualties. Syrian jets had in the past pounded rebels’ positions in the Qalamoun mountain range that straddles the Lebanese eastern border.
The Lebanese Army Sunday shelled with heavy artillery fire militants’ positions in Wadi Ajram and Zamarani on the outskirts of Arsal, destroying a number of vehicles, the National News Agency reported. Addressing a large crowd of Zahle residents at his Rabieh residence, Aoun renewed his call for government action to liberate 450 square kilometers occupied by militants on Arsal’s outskirts.
“The government today is still watching and refuses to grant the Army the mandate to liberate [Arsal’s] outskirts from militants,” Aoun said. “But until when will it continue to refuse this, while the Army is waiting there? The Army that does not act will be defeated in war because it is not doing anything to win.”
“Therefore, if the Army is not utilized, it will become like a rusty and eroding kitchen knife due to a lack of use,” he added.
Aoun noted that the threat to Lebanon did not come from Arsal’s residents, but from the large territory occupied by the militants on the town’s outskirts. “Everyone knows that those takfiri gunmen have become well-known for their actions throughout the world. They don’t respect rules of war or rules of peace. They always resort to killings and slaughtering and imposing certain measures on the people,” Aoun said.
“We call on the government today with all its ministers and all military officials to take a firm decision to liberate 450 square kilometers on the outskirts of Arsal because there is a possibility to set up a large military base on the outskirts,” he added.
Aoun’s remarks come on the eve of a crucial Cabinet session that is scheduled to discuss the contentious issues of security appointments and how to deal with the jihadis based on Arsal’s rugged terrain. In previous Cabinet sessions, ministers from Hezbollah and the FPM have demanded that the Lebanese Army should take action to expel ISIS and Nusra Front militants from Arsal’s outskirts. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has also pledged to liberate Arsal’s outskirts from the militants if the Lebanese state failed to do so. The two militant groups are still holding hostage 25 Lebanese soldiers and policemen captured during fierce fighting with the Lebanese Army in Arsal last August.
But former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Future Movement ministers and officials have warned Hezbollah against attacking Arsal, saying that protection of the town is the responsibility of the Lebanese state and Army.
Aoun criticized the government for failing to deal with the influx of Syrian refugees into Lebanon, saying this crisis posed a security and economic threat to the country. “Lebanon’s economic and geographic capacity cannot accommodate 1.5 million Syrians on our land.”
Apparently in response to Hezbollah’s repeated warnings to liberate the town’s outskirts, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said that only the Lebanese Army could enter Arsal.
“Arsal is a cherished part of this nation and not an isolated island as some have tried to portray it,” Rifi told a news conference at his residence in the northern city of Tripoli Saturday. “It is delusional to think we will accept any attack on the town. … Arsal is a red line.”
He added that his bet is on the Lebanese Army, noting that “only legitimacy” can enter the Lebanese border town. Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s executive council, said Saturday that the party is ready to liberate the outskirts of Arsal from militants and accused the March 14 coalition of supporting terrorism and inciting sectarian strife.
Qaouk said that while Hezbollah welcomed the Army’s intervention in Arsal, it would not allow the town’s outskirts to be a sanctuary for “takfiri gangs.”“Hezbollah has no problem with the residents or the town of Arsal,” Qaouk said during a Hezbollah memorial ceremony in the south Sunday. “The party welcomes the Lebanese Army’s entrance into the town and looks toward its reinforced presence there and to extending the state authority over all Lebanese territories, up to the international border east of the town of Arsal.”Referring to Hezbollah’s military successes during the party’s nearly one-month-long offensive against jihadis in the Qalamoun region, Qaouk said: “The resistance and honorable people in this country will not allow, following the Qalamoun battle, for the outskirts of Arsal to become a haven or a conduit for takfiri gangs.”
He stressed that the “nation’s dignity” would not stand for Arsal’s outskirts to be used for the continued captivity of the 25 Lebanese servicemen, nor would it allow for the area to be used as a passageway for explosive-rigged vehicles to enter Lebanon.
Alluding to the Future Movement, Qaouk said that some political parties want to keep Arsal as a “dagger stuck in the back of the resistance, the Army and the people.”
For his part, Arsal’s Mayor Ali Hujeiri said it was the Army’s task to secure the town’s outskirts, rejecting any Hezbollah role.
“The Army is responsible for the situation on Arsal’s outskirts,” Hujeiri said in remarks published by the Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat Sunday. “The decision is taken by the [military] and not the clans, or Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.”
Hujeiri said a delegation from Arsal visited Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk to demand that the Lebanese Army be given an exclusive mandate over decisions concerning Arsal and the protection of its citizens.
