Mustaqbal MPs: Army Intelligence, Hizbullah Tried to Nab Syrian from Arsal

Three Mustaqbal bloc MPs and several Sunni Muslim clerics on Tuesday called on President Michel Suleiman, Premier Najib Miqati and Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji to shoulder their responsibilities concerning what they called “the attack against the Bekaa town of Arsal on the eve of the 68th anniversary of independence.”

“According to verified information, a plainclothes group comprising bearded members belonging to the ‘party of weapons’ (Hizbullah) entered the town of Arsal Monday night and tried to abduct a Syrian national belonging to the Qarqouz family,” said a statement issued after a meeting at MP Mohammed Kabbara’s residence in the northern city of Tripoli.

The meeting was attended by MPs Khaled al-Daher and Moein al-Merehbi and Sunni Muslim clerics Zakariya al-Masri, Salem al-Rifai, Bilal Baroudi and Kenaan Naji.

The incident prompted “the town’s residents to peacefully confront the (aforementioned) members, using stones and sticks, and prevent them from completing the kidnap attempt, especially that Mr. Qarqouz is not wanted in Lebanon on any arrest warrant, and he may be rather wanted by the Assad regime,” the conferees said in the statement.

However, the army issued a statement Tuesday in which it said: “Yesterday evening, while an army patrol was pursuing fugitives in the Bekaa town of Arsal, it came under gunfire and a large group of people encircled the patrol and assaulted its members with stones, which left two vehicles badly damaged.”

“Immediately, army forces deployed in the region intervened and worked on dispersing the mob and restoring normalcy,” the army added.

Army troops “are still pursuing the shooters -- who fled to an unknown destination -- and the instigators,” it said.

As the conferees in Kabbara’s house noted that “plainclothes Lebanese army intelligence agents took part in the incident,” they wondered whether “an official order was issued by the Lebanese army command to carry out this mission on behalf of the Assad (regime’s) intelligence.”

But they added: “We do not believe so, for a simple reason: Arsal is not an abandoned town and our army -- which we love, appreciate and respect – is not Assad’s brigades.”

They urged the army command to “conduct a transparent probe into the attack against the town of Arsal to preserve the army’s reputation and out of respect for the Lebanese sovereignty, on the anniversary of an independence that has become lost.”

The conferees also warned against “any attempt that may be under preparation to take vengeance on our heroic people in Arsal and other regions.”

“Let everyone know that Arsal is not orphaned. Arsal is a Lebanese town and anyone attacking Arsal or any other Lebanese town would be definitely serving the Zionist enemy and Assad’s brigades,” they cautioned.