Qahwaji: We Won't Tolerate Distortion of Army Sacrifices against Takfiri Terror
Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stressed Thursday that the military institution will not tolerate any “distortion or underestimation” of its efforts to fight terrorist groups on the border with Syria.
“The extraordinary circumstances that the country is going through and the internal debates over the current junctures and issues will not at all affect the army's determination to preserve civil peace and continue to confront the terrorist groups on the eastern border,” Qahwaji emphasized during an inspection visit to the headquarters of the First Artillery Regiment in Karantina.
“Army forces are on daily basis repelling the terrorist groups that try to infiltrate through this border, and they are firmly and forcefully fighting these groups, regardless of the sacrifices,” Qahwaji underlined.
The army fought deadly battles in August 2014 against militants from the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front groups who briefly overran the northeastern border town of Arsal. The retreating jihadists abducted several soldiers and policemen as they withdrew from the town, four of whom have been executed until the moment.
On Sunday, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah hinted that his group would try and eliminate the militants from Arsal's outskirts if the Lebanese state failed to do so.
“We will not tolerate any attempt to underestimate or distort the huge sacrifices that the army has been offering since last August in its fierce battles against this takfiri terrorism,” Qahwaji added.
“The army has done what the strongest armies have failed to do in their confrontations with such organizations,” Qahwaji noted.
He reassured the Lebanese that all the attempts to “scare” them or make them question their military's capabilities “will fall in the face of the army's immunity, readiness and devotion.”
“Our soldiers and officers are at the highest levels of preparedness to confront all challenges,” the army chief asserted.
“We endured, persevered and emerged victorious in the most difficult of situations and the most dire of hardships, and we will certainly emerge victorious from this battle, because right is on our side and because we're defending a deep-rooted culture, an invincible country and people who only want life,” Qahwaji added.
Y.R.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/180345 |