Fnaideq Municipality Voices Support to Army: Defected Soldier Suffers from Mental Problems
The municipality of the northern Akkar region of Fnaideq criticized on Sunday the media campaign “aimed at tarnishing its image” in light the army defection of Abdul Qader Akkoumi, who hails from the area, reported the National News Agency.
The municipality explained in a statement that Akkoumi “suffers from mental problems and has not been part of the army for about three months.”
It added that his brother is also a soldier in the army.
Akkoumi announced on Saturday his defection, saying that he was joining the ranks of the Islamic State jihadist group.
“I announce my defection from this 'apostate, crusader army',” Akkoumi said in the video as he displayed his military ID in front of the camera.
Later on Saturday, the army issued a statement clarifying that Akkoumi had “deserted the military institution three months ago.”
“He escaped on July 21 and was referred to the Military Court on October 1 over multiple desertion charges,” it added.
The Fnaideq municipality statement added: “The town is suffering from time to time from suspicious media campaigns in an attempt to portray it as being outside the authority of the state.”
“Such measures are aimed at dragging the town towards the plot aimed at creating strife in Lebanon,” it added.
“We completely stand by the army and all other security forces,” it stressed, while noting that over 3,000 Fnaideq natives are recruited in the army.
“We demand that the media exercise accuracy in reporting the news and refrain from exaggerating them,” demanded the municipality.
It also called on the government to take “serious steps” to release the captive soldiers abducted from the northeastern town of Arsal in August, stating that two of them hail from Fnaideq.
Moreover, it demanded that the government “take a bold decision and request all Lebanese powers, especially Hizbullah, to withdraw their fighters from Syria to avoid dragging further tragedies to Lebanon.”
A number of soldiers and policemen were kidnapped from Arsal in August in the wake of clashes between the army and Islamist militants from Syria.
Three of the captives have since been executed, a number of them were released, while the rest remain held by the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front and Islamic State groups.
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