Mansour: No Contradictory Statements by Ghosn and Charbel over al-Qaida
Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour defended the government on Monday against critics that it was showing division over the alleged presence of al-Qaida in Lebanon.
In an interview with the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily, Mansour said that Interior Minister Marwan Charbel did not contradict Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn, who had claimed that al-Qaida fighters were active in the eastern border town of Arsal.
“The defense minister didn’t say that al-Qaida has a presence in Lebanon,” Mansour said, stressing that Ghosn had only claimed that the terrorist network’s fighters were crossing from the area into Syria.
“This has been confirmed by the Syrian authorities as well and not just Lebanon,” the FM told the newspaper.
The remarks of Ghosn have drawn controversy, particularly after Premier Najib Miqati and Charbel denied al-Qaida’s presence in Lebanon.
Charbel said on Friday that Lebanon could be a route and not a base for the terror network.
Asked about the situation in Syria, Mansour said: “We are concerned about the developments in Syria” because the two countries are geographically and economically linked.
The two countries have common concerns linked to security and stability, the minister told al-Hayat, saying that any deterioration in Syria would affect negatively on Lebanon.
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