Mashnouq Announces Plan, with Hizbullah Cooperation, to Help Lebanese Escape Tufail

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq announced on Saturday a plan to help citizens “safely” escape the Lebanese town of Tufail, which is located inside Syria.

The plan involves securing a safe passage supervised by Lebanese forces and which would allow the village's residents to escape "without being subjected to any Syrian gunman."

Al-Manar television provided details on the plan: "All residents of Tufail who want to leave the town will head to a border region and security forces buses will be waiting for them to transfer them to wherever they want."

Mashnouq announced the plan after a security meeting in the ministry of interior, in the presence of security officials and Hizbullah Liaison and Coordination Officer Wafiq Safa.

The security meeting was followed by talks between Mashnouq, Safa and General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim.

"The plan aims at rescuing the Lebanese present in the town from Syrian atrocities, whether committed by the (Damascus) regime or by the opposition,” Mashnouq explained, according to al-Jadeed television.

"And we coordinated with Hizbullah because this party is involved in the Syrian conflict and has military presence in these regions,” he elaborated.

"It is impossible to implement such a plan without coordinating with Hizbullah officials."

"There is a necessity to coordinate with the party to safeguard the safety of the Lebanese in these regions,” he added, noting that Safa expressed his keenness on protecting Lebanese nationals in Tufail.

Syrian opposition gunmen have recently gathered in the Lebanese town of Tufail, after escaping the battles in the village of Qalamoun on the border with Lebanon. Their numbers amount to 350 fighters, according al-Akhbar daily.

The town is located at the end of the eastern mountain belt's plains, in an area that is 24 kilometers inside Syrian territories. Tufail is surrounded by Syrian lands to its north, east and south, and by the Lebanese villages of Ham, Maarboun and Brital to its west.

It should also be noted that no roads link Tufail to Lebanese territories.

More than 5,000 Lebanese nationals reside in Tufail, Christians and Muslims, and among them there are around 25 soldiers in the army.

President Michel Suleiman called during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday to study all possible means that would enable helping the town's residents escape and take refuge in safe regions inside Lebanon.

S.D.B.