Report: Arsal Residents Form Committee to Meet Senior Officials

The residents of the eastern town of Arsal formed on Wednesday a committee to hold talks with senior officials following a deadly ambush of an army patrol, media reports said.

The committee, according to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3), will meet with Army Commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji, President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati in light of the recent attack that left two army soldiers and a suspect dead.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said in comments published in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that those who are seeking to create strife by exploiting the recent incident in Arsal should halt their attempts.

He hailed the stance taken by the residents of the town after schoolchildren greeted soldiers with flowers on Tuesday.

Hariri described the act as “the true stance by the town towards the army.”

The army has sealed off all the entrances to Arsal and brought in reinforcements as part of measures aimed at arresting more members of an armed group that targeted the patrol and killed Major Pierre Bashaalani and Adjutant Ibrahim Zahraman.

The patrol was in the area to pursue Khaled Hmayyed, a suspect wanted on terrorism charges.

The army also erected checkpoints at the entrances of the town to check the identities of passers-by.

Qahwaji vowed earlier that the army will pursue the attackers “wherever they are and whatever party they are loyal to,” saying that the military will “cut off” any hand that attacks it.