Qahwaji: Army Prepared to Battle Any Extremist Attack

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stressed the army's readiness to wage any battle with extremists given media reports that thousands of militants are lying just outside of Lebanon's borders, reported al-Mustaqbal daily on Sunday.

He declared to the daily: “There are several rumors, but should the militants attack us, then we are ready for them.”

“The situation on the ground however is very normal,” he noted.

Asked to comment on the pictures of the beheading of Lebanese soldier Ali al-Sayyed, Qahwaji said: “We have seen the images as have the people.”

He did not confirm whether the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant were behind the incident.

“We should keep all options open,” said the army chief.

ISIL had reportedly claimed responsibility for the beheading.

The group and al-Nusra Front later denied being responsible for it, reported Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

Conflicting reports emerged on Saturday over the validity of images showing Sayyed being beheaded by an alleged Islamic State militant calling himself Abu Musaab Hafid al-Baghdadi.

Security sources questioned, in comments published in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Saturday, the validity of the pictures, estimating that the beheaded man is not soldier Ali al-Sayyed.

On Thursday, al-Baghdadi posted pictures on his Twitter account that show him cutting off the head of a blindfolded man with a medium beard.

He identified the supposed victim as “Ali al-Sayyed, an apostate soldier belonging to the army of the cross (Lebanese army).”

The militant said the purported execution is in response to “the attempts of the party of Satan (Hizbullah) to torpedo the negotiations” over the captive Lebanese soldiers and policemen who were abducted after jihadists overran the Bekaa border town of Arsal on August 2.