Suleiman Asks Qahwaji to Deliver FM Reports on Syrian Raids, Calls for Establishing Refugee Camps inside Syria
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
President Michel Suleiman asked the army chief on Thursday to deliver the ministry of foreign affairs copies of security reports on the latest Syrian airstrikes on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal.
A statement issued by the presidential palace said Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji visited Suleiman who asked him to hand the ministry the copies of the raids in Arsal on Wednesday and another attack that took place on March 18.
Wednesday's raid involved two rocket attacks on a house 11 kilometers deep into Lebanese territories and the previous one included assaults as deep as 5 kilometers across the border with Syria.
Mortars and shells from the Syrian side regularly crash in Lebanon and troops loyal to President Bashar Assad have on several occasions launched raids inside Lebanese territories bordering Syria.
Suleiman also met the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, and reiterated his calls for holding an international conference to discuss the situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
“We call for establishing U.N.-protected refugee camps inside Syria and for redistributing Syrians in Lebanon to neighboring countries,” the president said in a released statement after his talks with Maurer.
He elaborated: “We suggest that the camps be inside Syrian territories, away from conflict zones, and be close to areas bordering Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq”.
"Syrians taking refuge in Lebanon in the future could also be distributed to neighboring and friendly countries,” Suleiman added.
A source in the presidency expressed to Agence France Presse on Thursday: “"Lebanon cannot support the number of refugees present within its territories”.
The comments come as Lebanon struggles under the weight of a wave of Syrian refugees from all walks of life who have flooded across the border as the conflict in their country continues into a third year.
The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR has registered more than 400,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, though many more are believed to be in the country.
Lebanese officials have frequently said that the country of just four million residents is ill-equipped to handle the number of refugees it is currently seeing.
More than a million Syrians have sought refuge outside their country since the uprising against the regime of President Bashar Assad began in March 2011, with another four million believed to be internally displaced.
04 April 2013, 13:51
49
Funny to see that the Govt and Army are not doing anything to defend its citizens.
Some democratic Govt this is.
04 April 2013, 14:26
72
At least Lebanon is still somewhat of a democracy. They don't have a proper democracy yet in your terrorist hometown of Kashmir, do they?
Al Qaeda sympathizing terrorists complaining about the lack of democracy. What's this world come to?
04 April 2013, 16:47
00
karim_m2 what a wonderful comment my Ashura brain damaged friend kudos. By the way how were Al Qaeda terrorists going into Iraq from Syria after the US invasion? I bet the Wahhabis send them there by landing them at the Damascus International airport and nail salon dressed as ZZ Top under the noses of the unsuspecting Syrian customs agents. Then loading them into tourist buses under the mustaches of Assad's tourist friendly security apparatus. The buses took them to training facilities disguised as Scout camps, complete with a Baden Powell portrait looking suspiciously like Ben Laden, to be trained. After a month there they boarded the buses again destination the Syrian Iraqi border past the Syrian Border guards who were fooled by the sneaky terrorists using their fingers to pull the sides of their eyes to look like Japanese tourists, brown Japanese tourists oddly enough. That's what probably happened. After all President Assad said that he was doing all he can to stop them.
04 April 2013, 16:23
12
Agreed, they need to do more, i dare say Suleiman wants to do more but is concerned with the backlash he may receive from the iranian puppets in government with their extremist shia ideology dictating everyone of their move, it is Palestine, resistance yada yada, Iran & Syria need to liberate Palestine through Lebanon for some odd reason.
04 April 2013, 14:05
24
This security vacuum will push 3arsal for forming an armed resistance. Which will ultimately play in favor of Assad trying to destabilize LEBANON. Our president should show those Northerners that the army won't let them down...
04 April 2013, 14:06
46
I thought the Army once said they will respond to any aggression towards Lebanon.
Well if the Army won't then option 2 will be send in the resistance to defend the borders.
I know I know in my dreams!
04 April 2013, 16:43
00
Listen guys I know many of you won't like what I have to say, but these terrorists in Arsal slayed our army, being with or against Assad I hope he takes all of them out. This way our army won't be forced to confront them internally.
04 April 2013, 17:45
00
Baffling how some fools rush to attack anyone criticizing the Syrians even when the critique is warranted, goes to show a trained monkey can only do what it was trained to do. During thirty year of occupation the Syrians trained a lotta monkeys some of them will always fall back on that training having learned nothing else. Where's Justin Bieber when you need him, he can take them all thru our airport and no one will stop him I promise.
04 April 2013, 18:42
00
I suggest to General Qahwaji to do the report and once it is done cut out the middle man and throw it in the trash, after all that's what FM Adnan Mansewer will do with it.
