Marouni: Lebanese Army Should Have Led Arsal Battles
Kataeb MP Elie Marouni stressed on Wednesday that the battles on the outskirts of Arsal against Syria's al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front terrorists should have been led by the command of the Lebanese army instead of Hizbullah.
"The Lebanese state was absent from those battles, the war and peace decision was in Hizbullah's hand," the lawmaker said in an interview with al-Fajr radio station.
"The Lebanese army was not the decision maker in that battle, especially that the military statements were issued by Hizbullah's war media unit," he emphasized.
Hizbullah waged a battle against Nusra in a bid to oust the militants from the outskirts of Arsal.
The battle ended with a swap deal between Hizbullah and Syria's al-Nusra Front group that saw the transfer of scores of Nusra militants and their families- from Lebanon's Arsal outskirts to Syria.
The deal included the release of three Hizbullah fighters captured by al-Nusra during their battle against the group last month.
Source: Naharnet
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