Hariri: State Should Not Spare Any Effort to Return Tripoli under Rule of Law
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri hoped on Tuesday that the residents of Tripoli would cooperate with the army and security forces in their deployment in the northern city as they attempt to restore calm there.
He said in a statement: “The state should not hesitate in providing all elements that will place Tripoli's security under the rule of the law.”
“We hope that the deployment will pave the way to ending repeated attempts to tamper with the security and stability of the city,” he added.
“We hope the deployment will restore the people's trust in the state's role in protecting them and end the series of armed clashes that are being fueled by well-known sides that act as the security and military arm of the Syrian regime in Lebanon,” remarked Hariri.
“We look forward to the residents of Tripoli in helping the army in its deployment and that they would deal firmly with any party that seeks to violate the security plan,” he continued.
“Some sides that are jealous of the army and the state's role will never become more honest and more attached to the army and its national role than the Mustaqbal Movement and its supporters,” declared the former premier.
“The Mustaqbal Movement has never once sought to form its own state at the expense of the army or the state,” he stressed.
Tripoli will no longer accept to be a victim of armed clashes and it will not “accept sedative measures” that will temporarily end the unrest before they flare up again, noted Hariri.
The Lebanese army deployed on Tuesday along Syria Street, the road that separates the Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen neighborhoods that have witnessed fighting between rival armed groups over the past week.
Clashes ended after 11:00 pm Monday after top officials held intense contacts to guarantee the army's safe entry to Syria Street.
Three soldiers were wounded on Monday during a clash with gunmen as troops deployed in Bab al-Tabbaneh, whose residents are mostly Sunni and back the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The military had earlier deployed in Jabal Mohsen that is mainly Alawite, the sect of Assad.
The two neighborhoods have repeatedly witnessed rounds clashes that have only grown in intensity after the eruption of the uprising in Syria in March 2011.
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