Geagea Warns Arsal Battle Could No Longer be Isolated

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea warned on Tuesday that the clashes between the army and terrorists in the northeastern border town of Arsal could spread to other areas in Lebanon.

In a speech at the emigrants annual meeting in Maarab, Geagea said: “The security situation in Arsal is very dangerous even if it is isolated.”

“But it could no longer be isolated and could spread to other areas,” he warned.

Geagea reiterated that Hizbullah's involvement in Syria's war caused the gunbattles that started on Saturday after the army arrested a suspect who admitted to belonging to al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

“The cause of the problem is Hizbullah's participation in the fighting in Syria. But unfortunately the Lebanese army is paying the price,” he said.

“The army will continue to come under attack as long as Hizbullah holds onto its plans in Syria,” he stated.

“We back the army but the solution comes through Hizbullah's pullout from Syria,” Geagea, a presidential candidate, added.

Despite his warning that the Arsal gunbattles could spread to other areas, Geagea urged the Lebanese not to fear the developments in the region.

“We have resisted in the past organizations and armies bigger than the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” he said.

The fighting in Arsal marks the first time that militants battling Syrian President Bashar Assad have carried out a large-scale incursion into Lebanon.

The fight for the town is the bloodiest involving the army since the military fought a three-month battle in 2007 against the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah al-Islam group inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in northern Lebanon.

G.K.

H.K.