Western, Arab Powers Express Fears over ISIL Plan to Create Passage to Lebanon's Sea
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
International and regional countries are “gravely concerned” of attempts by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to create a safe passage to the sea in northern Lebanon.
According to As Safir newspaper published on Saturday, Arab and Western countries voiced concern, during security meetings held in various regional countries, on an ISIL scheme to take control of a swath of territory in Lebanon in order to reach the sea.
Sources told the daily that a western official informed Lebanese authorities that such a option is a “red line.”
“It will never happen at any cost,” the unnamed official said.
Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji has accused on Friday the Islamic State group of seeking to ignite civil war in Lebanon and of relying on sleeper cells in the northern district of Akkar and the port city of Tripoli.
In an interview with the French daily Le Figaro, Qahwaji said the terrorists were counting on the cells in northern Lebanon and on the backing of some Sunni figures to achieve their objectives.
He also accused them of seeking to create a safe passage to the sea in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
They believe they can achieve that in Lebanon by linking the Syrian Qalamun mountains with Lebanon's northeastern town of Arsal and then Akkar district, the General told Le Figaro.
The army engaged in heavy clashes with the militants after they overran Arsal in August and took with them soldiers and policemen as hostages.
Three of the so-called Arsal hostages were executed in September and August – two of them were beheaded while one was shot dead.
11 October 2014, 09:01
26
According to As Safir newspaper published on Saturday, Arab and Western countries voiced concern.
LOL, and it is everyday that Arab and Western intelligence agencies confide in As Safir. More of the same propaganda reports. The manipulation and scare tactics are in full swing.
11 October 2014, 09:10
51
Yeah, kinda like the be headings are manipulation and scare tactics. Those never happened . Wake up dummy.
11 October 2014, 09:14
13
the possibility exists and would be dangerous.
the problem is how to stop such an expansion?
hizbushaitan actions creating frustration with all the Lebanese sects is one major problem that should stop.
election of a president might alleviate this frustration.
otherwise we can easily expect that some sunnis will turn towards these extremists to balance the odds and our army would breakup.
hizbushaitan has a lot to do to restore confidence to the Lebanese communities.
11 October 2014, 09:31
35
When the Shia ministers resigned from the Saniora government, said government was deemed unconstitutional and illegal. However, the country has been without a Christian president for sometime now and the whole lebanese governance system seems to be constitutional according to Michel Aoun and Hezbullah.
11 October 2014, 09:35
34
consider this:
aoun, an ex general of the army is blocking in the cabinet all negotiations to free our soldiers! I think this is enough clarification about him being patriotic :)
as I said not electing a president and blocking it is a major cause for frustration and my fear is that it will lead to more extremism and the breakup of the army.
11 October 2014, 09:35
15
@geha, it is a far fetched possibility. Needing an exit to the sea would be for the sake of getting arms and men and not for their love of the beach or to have a sun tan. With the Turkish border being so vast, this whole propaganda theory fails at grass roots level.
11 October 2014, 09:50
13
iran is paying billions to hizbushaitan to have a foothold on the Mediterranean sea. let us not just dismiss the possibility of these extremists wanting a foothold too.
what we should worry about is how to prevent it.
you fight extremism with cohesion, but cohesion is not there anymore with the actions of hizbushaitan.
11 October 2014, 11:53
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u stop ISIS expansion by sunnis and shia sticking together against ISIS no matter their disagreements.
so the first step is stop calling hizbullah hizbushaitan like u did in ur post, and al mustaqbal al mustahbal... or else all of us are mhabeel !
the christians differences are weakening the christians but the christians are stubborn and no one will back out for the sake of lebanon let alone the christian community.
Hope the sunnis and shiites will be more wise than the christians
11 October 2014, 12:03
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calling them this way is because their name supposes that if you are against them then you are against GOD. hope this is clear.
without a change in the attitude of the chia, things are going for the worse even with all the goodwill of moderate sunnis.
11 October 2014, 11:36
25
As Safir is the mouthpiece of HA. They started the false statements attributed to the Patriarch. If HA wants to circulate something rest assured As Safir will be one of the conduits.
11 October 2014, 13:20
45
hezbollah and bashar want isis to enter akkar so it gives them a pretext to invade this region hostile to both...
so first step is to convince people that akkar is filled with isis terrorists, second step is to favor their entry, third step is to claim that only they can save akkar and invade it, no questions asked!
11 October 2014, 19:34
11
http://www.newsweek.com/how-syrias-assad-helped-forge-isis-255631
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/07/assad-and-the-art-of-the-devils-gambit/374501/
"One cannot rationally dissociate the Syrian regime from
terrorism. Syria provides safe haven for a myriad of terrorist
organizations, directs their operations" michel aoun
Syria has harboured financed islamists for decades and you perfectly know that and now they will not use the instrument they are so good at?
but yes the syrian regime has long stopped using terrorist organizations for the sake of their interests...
you are either naive or blinded by M8 propaganda bigjohn...
oh! and you'll find lots of more articles saying that isis are manipulated by the syrian regime that helped created it and flourished to make believe the only solution is bashar and hezbollah!
11 October 2014, 17:55
30
So the terrorist khaliji countries that are arming and funding the FSA-Al Qaeda-ISIS salafist jihadist terrorists are now concerned?
