Salam: Terrorists Should Not Be Given Chance to Create Division among us

Prime Minister Tammam Salam reiterated on Saturday the importance of internal unity in confronting the threat of terrorism.

He said after holding talks with Speaker Nabih Berri: “We need to stand united against terrorism and we should not grant terrorists the chance to create division among us.”

Unity should be demonstrated among the people, political powers, government, media, army and security agencies, he declared.

“Our unity alone determines our fate,” he stressed before reporters at Berri's Ain el-Tineh residence.

“The government has since day one been united in confronting terrorism. We will not show weakness in the face of terrorists,” added the premier.

“The terrorists will fail to create division among us,” stated Salam, while adding that attempts to ignite strife in Lebanon will also fail.

He therefore called on the people to stand behind the army and state institutions in their plight.

Moreover, he noted that the recent developments in the northeastern town of Arsal has “prompted us to take the choice of confronting the terrorists through the state institutions.”

“We sought negotiations over the release of the captive soldiers and policemen, but the terrorists did not allow these efforts to reach fruition,” he lamented.

He revealed that he called for a security meeting to be held at the Grand Serail at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Salam continued: “We will not make concessions that will later come to harm us.”

Asked by a reporter whether the state will halt negotiations to release the captives, he replied: “All options are still open.”

“We should not allow the sacrifices of the army to go to waste,” he added.

Two soldiers were killed and three others wounded on Friday after their vehicle was targeted by a roadside bomb in Arsal.

The attack came hours after the army arrested a Lebanese and two Syrians in the area of al-Mesyada in Arsal.

Later on Friday, the military fired heavy weapons after detecting movements by armed groups in Arsal's outskirts.

In the evening, it retaliated after being targeted by gunfire from the posts of the armed groups in Arsal's outskirts.

Arsal, close to the border with Syria, was the scene last month of a major battle between the Lebanese army and jihadists who had streamed across the frontier.

At the end of the clashes in August, the jihadists took with them soldiers and policemen as captive, and two of them have since been beheaded, while a third was executed on Friday.

M.T.

D.A.