Qahwaji: Past 2 Days Witnessed Worst Security Tension in 8 Years

Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji said Tuesday that Lebanon witnessed in the past 48 hours the most dangerous security situation since 2005 when a series of bombings targeted anti-Syrian Lebanese figures.

He made his remark to As Safir daily against the backdrop of the assault of Dar al-Fatwa clerics Sheikh Mazen Hariri and Sheikh Ahmed Fakhran on Sunday in the Shiite area of Khandaq al-Ghamiq in Beirut.

Demonstrators angry over the attacks against the Sunni Sheikhs blocked roads with garbage bins and burned tires in Beirut and other Lebanese cities on Sunday and Monday.

Tensions between Sunnis and Shiites have increased significantly because of the Syrian civil war. Most of the rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad are from the Sunni majority, while the president belongs to the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Mortar and artillery shells from the Syrian side often explode in Lebanon.

On Monday, Syrian warplanes hit targets along Syria's border with Lebanon. The state-run National News Agency said the attack hit a remote area near the northeastern town of Arsal.

Qahwaji said these incidents were a sign of the ongoing sectarian and political tension in the country.

He urged politicians and clergymen to assume their responsibilities and put an end to all that contributes to instigation against the other.

The political leaders should work for limiting the tension to allow the army to carry out its mission near the border, he said.

He wondered how some politicians are urging the army to assume its responsibilities in the border area at a time when they are contributing through their rhetoric to the military's overwork inside Lebanon and along its boundaries.

Although he advised politicians to beware of the dangers of tension, he appeased fears on a deterioration of the security situation, saying Lebanon “is capable of overcoming all obstacles.”

The military institution will do all it can to prevent strife and confront perpetrators who seek to create instability, Qahwaji told As Safir.

He revealed that the army will take several measures in the next few days. But he did not provide further details.

Clerics from northern Lebanon, who visited Qahwaji on Monday, told An Nahar daily that the army chief stressed to the delegation the need to control the tension on the street to allow the army to carry out its duties.

The delegation's sources told him that it was unacceptable to pursue some men for supporting the Syrian revolution against Assad and ignore Hizbullah which is sending fighters to Syria and bringing back the bodies of the dead without being held accountable.

Hizbullah denies any of its members are fighting alongside Assad but says several of its fighters have been killed while defending themselves against Sunni gunmen in areas along the border.