Qahwaji: No Secret Deals Will Occur at Expense of Our Martyrs' Blood

Army chief General Jean Qahwaji on Wednesday reassured “there will be no bargaining at the expense of the blood of the martyrs” who fell in the northern regions of Tripoli and Minieh, stressing that the fugitive gunmen will be arrested “no matter how long it takes.”

“The martyrs and the injured soldiers' blood will not go in vain," said Qahwaji during a visit to the Aley district, where he offered condolences to the families of slain officers Jihad al-Habr and Firas al-Hakim, who were killed in the latest clashes in the North.

“There will be no bargaining or leniency with those who killed our troops and no secret deals will occur at the expense of our martyrs' blood,” stressed Qahwaji.

He underlined that “anyone who attacked the army is a terrorist and they will be chased, arrested and handed over to the judiciary, no matter where they were and no matter how long it takes.”

The army has tightened its security grip in the North region in the wake of unprecedented fierce clashes with Islamist gunmen over the weekend.

Eleven troops and five civilians were killed and several others wounded in the gunbattles that started in Tripoli's old souks and spread to the city's Bab al-Tabbaneh district and the nearby northern regions of Minieh and Akkar.

Scores of militants were killed, wounded or arrested during the military operation.

However, top militants Shadi al-Mawlawi, Osama Mansour and Sheikh Khaled Hoblos vanished as the army entered their hideouts in Bab al-Tabbaneh and Minieh following days of clashes.

The three militants' disappearance sparked speculation about the presence of a certain “settlement” that allowed them to escape, the thing that was strongly denied by the army.

Z.A.

Y.R.