UK Says Equipping Army to Keep IS 'on Other Side of Border', Slams Leaders over Presidency

British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher revealed Monday that the United Kingdom is assisting the Lebanese army's land border regiments in order to fend off the threat of Islamic State militants deployed in the border region between Syria and Lebanon.

Fletcher voiced his remarks after talks with Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail.

“We have a substantive package of support to the land border regiments, training and equipping them to keep Daesh on the other side of the border,” the UK ambassador said, using an Arabic acronym for the IS group.

“I salute their courage under fire,” added Fletcher, hailing the soldiers of the Lebanese army who are deployed on the eastern border with Syria.

Jihadists from the IS and the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front are entrenched on the outskirts of Lebanese towns on the porous Syrian-Lebanese border.

They invaded the border town of Arsal in August 2014 and engaged in deadly battles with the Lebanese army before they retreated under a ceasefire mediated by Lebanese Muslim clerics.

Turning to the issue of the presidential crisis, the ambassador pointed out that “some Lebanese leaders seem to have concluded that a presidential vacuum is in their interests.”

“Maybe it is in their interests. But it is not in the interests of the Lebanese people. It is not in the interests of parents working so hard to bring up their children in security. It is not in the interests of businesses trying to build the economy and provide jobs,” Fletcher added.

“It is not in the interests of the brave soldiers who are protecting the borders. It is not in the interests of young people seeking hope and a future. It is not in the interests of all of us who believe in Lebanon’s ability to battle the odds and come through,” he went on to say.

Addressing the Lebanese parties, Fletcher underlined that “there is no magical international fix” to the presidential deadlock.

“We could not have spoken louder about the danger of this irresponsible failure of duty,” the envoy added, speaking in the name of the international community.

“Lebanon’s leaders don’t need to make progress for the sake of the international community, and they clearly won’t. But they should do so for the sake of the Lebanese people they claim to represent. The Lebanese people deserve better,” Fletcher stated.

The Baabda Palace has been vacant since President Michel Suleiman's six-year tenure ended in May last year. Political disputes and electoral rivalry have prevented parliamentary quorum in 19 electoral sessions.

“We also discussed the humanitarian challenges. I know that Lebanon will continue to show generosity to all those in need. We understand our obligation to help -- we are spending more per square kilometer in Lebanon than anywhere else in the world,” Fletcher added.

He also noted that London is working with the Lebanese government to “significantly increase the numbers of children in school, and getting textbooks to over 300,000 children.”

Y.R.