Hizbullah: Labweh Road was Blocked to Call for Army Deployment in Arsal
Hizbullah said Wednesday that the residents of the eastern town of al-Labweh had blocked the village’s road for having a single demand, which is the deployment of the army in the rival village of Arsal.
Reading a statement from parliament ahead of the vote of confidence session, Hizbullah's Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan said: “The military's deployment will help control the security and constrain actions that are harmful to Arsal.”
He said the residents blocked the Labweh-Arsal road after the fall of rockets on several Shiite towns and following car bombs in several regions, mainly Hermel, and despite appeals by the residents for the state to carry out its responsibilities to deploy in areas under attack.
“They had a single demand, which was the deployment of the army in Arsal,” the statement said.
“This is a patriotic request,” he told reporters.
“There shouldn't be any hindrance to the preservation of security. This is not just about Arsal but all areas in Lebanon,” he said.
“There shouldn't be any rejection for the army and security forces to enter any area or any town in Lebanon,” the Hizbullah minister added.
The army deployed in the Sunni town of Arsal along the border with Syria early Wednesday, reopening the main road out of the town after a night of tension.
The town had been sealed off by residents from the mostly-Shiite neighboring town of al-Labweh.
The closure of the main road out of Arsal prompted fury among Sunnis in other parts of Lebanon, and many took to streets across the country, including Beirut, on Tuesday night to burn tires in protest.
On Monday, several rockets struck al-Labweh and al-Nabi Othman near Arsal.
Some angry al-Labweh residents claimed the rockets were fired from Arsal and closed off the main road.
But the blockade also appeared to be aimed at containing a fresh influx of Syrian rebels and refugees into Arsal since Sunday, when President Bashar Assad's troops and his Hizbullah allies captured the opposition stronghold of Yabrud just across the border.
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