March 14 Calls Suleiman to Take 'Sovereign Stand', Deploy Army on Border

The March 14 General Secretariat accused the cabinet on Wednesday of “disassociating itself from the people and the workers' interests”, urging President Michel Suleiman to deploy army forces on the border with Syria.

"The internal security crises and the situation on the border will transform Lebanon into a failed state,” the secretariat said in a released statement after its weekly meeting.

It expressed: “The Lebanese people's dignity and rights are being violated”.

The statement pointed out to “more than 80 Syrian violations on the northern and eastern border between November 2011 and February 2013 that have left several people dead or wounded”.

A man was killed on Saturday in the northern village of Wadi Khaled by gunshots fired from Syria's side of the border, as Syrian shells have landed in al-Dbabiyeh and al-Noura towns of the northern district of Akkar, the National News Agency reported.

Since the eruption of Syria's clashes in 2011, Lebanon's northern cities have been witnessing several security incidents, the latest of which was in October 2012, when heavy Syrian gunfire targeted the border town of al-Abboudiyeh, forcing residents to flee the area en masse.

The March 14 secretariat cited “Iran's Ayoub drone” among these violations: “We can add also Hizbullah's participation in Syria's war as well as the transfer of gas and weapons to the neighboring country”.

Israel's air force shot down an unarmed drone over the Negev desert on Oct. 6, 2012, after it entered the country's airspace from the Mediterranean Sea.

Several days later, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah announced his movement had sent the drone, saying the aircraft, Ayoub, was Iranian-built and assembled in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, HA has repeatedly announced burying fighters since the beginning of Syria's uprising, with party members explaining that they were acting in "self-defense”.

The Syrian opposition has long accused the group of helping the Syrian leadership crack down on the uprising — a claim the group has repeatedly denied.

HA has stood by Syrian President Bashar Assad since the uprising began in March 2011, even after the group supported revolts in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Bahrain. The group says it is backing the Syrian regime because of its support for the anti-Israel resistance movements in Lebanon and Palestine and because it is willing to implement political reforms.

"We regret that these activities have become normal daily news in Lebanon,” the March 14 secretariat expressed.

It remarked: “We call on President Suleiman to take a sovereign decision and deploy military forces on the northern and eastern border as it would be the only solution to survive this situation”.

"We can also seek the support of international emergency forces in respect to article 14 of resolution 1701,” the secretariat elaborated, expressing that this would be a “true application of the Baabda Declaration”.

In the Baabda Declaration, rival March 8 and 14 alliance leaders have affirmed their commitment to the Taef Accord and agreed to distance Lebanon from the policy of regional and international conflicts.

The secretariat also discussed the economic situation in the country, accusing the cabinet of “disassociating itself from the people's interests”.

"Several ministries are making suspicious deals,” it stated.