Suleiman Slams Calls to Send Fighters to Syria
President Michel Suleiman called on Wednesday on the Lebanese to abide by the dissociation policy and not to send arms shipments or fighters to the neighboring country Syria.
The president called on different parties not to send “arms shipments and fighters to Syria and not to establish any training bases in Lebanon."
He pointed out that the Lebanese should abide by the dissociation policy and not meddle in the Syrian affairs to safeguard the national unity and prevent any tension locally.
Lebanese authorities have officially followed the policy to distance the country from the Syrian conflict. But they have also been reluctant to publicly blame either regime forces or rebel fighters for fire hitting villages and towns near the border with Syria.
Two Salafist clerics Sheikh Salem al-Rafehi and Ahmed al-Asir accused Hizbullah of sending fighters to attack Syrian Sunnis, who make up the backbone of that country's rebellion.
They called on Monday for jihad to defend Sunnis in Syria.
However, Rafehi informed caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel on Tuesday that he is ready to withdraw his call for jihad if Hizbullah ended its involvement in Syria's civil war.
Much of the heaviest fighting has raged near the Lebanese border around al-Qusayr, where activists said government troops backed by gunmen linked to Hizbullah captured the villages of Radwineyeh and Tel al-Nabi Mando.
Since it began in March 2011, Syria's conflict has fueled local tensions between the communities in Lebanon, with bouts of street fighting and kidnappings.
Hizbullah denies taking part in the civil war. But top Hizbullah official Nabil Qaouq said Monday that his group is "performing a national duty" toward Lebanese Shiites living in Syrian border towns and villages by supporting the "popular committees."
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