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Report: Nasrallah Meets Qahwaji, Expresses Readiness to Aid Army

Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah met with Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji recently, media reports said on Thursday.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper, the meeting tackled the latest developments and highlighted the readiness of the resistance to defend Lebanon's southern, northern and eastern border alongside the army.

Earlier this month, Hizbullah forces battled al-Nusra Front fighters on the outskirts of the Bekaa region of Brital.

Lebanon's border with Syria is not officially defined and much of it is porous and patrolled, with local residents, smugglers and others moving freely across it.

Hizbullah maintains several military posts along the border and its fighters are also battling jihadists and other Syrian opposition fighters in Syria in a bid to bolster President Bashar Assad.

The conflict in Syria has regularly spilled into Lebanon, and raised tensions between Lebanese Sunnis who largely back the uprising and Shiites who tend to support Assad's regime.

Hizbullah's role in the conflict has further stoked tensions, and the group and its strongholds in Lebanon have been targeted in attacks by jihadists on several occasions.

Islamists in the country claim that Sunnis are facing harassment by the army, which they accuse of working under the command of Hizbullah.

Concerning the presidential deadlock, Nasrallah also reiterated to Qahwaji that the party supports its ally the Free Patriotic Movement leader, MP Michel Aoun, to reach the Baabda Palace.

The country plunged into a political vacuum as President Michel Suleiman's term ended on May 25 and the rival political forces have so far failed to elect a successor despite having held more than a dozen electoral sessions.

H.K.

G.K.


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