Khoury Meets Miqati, Mansour: Syria Has Not Violated Lebanese Territory

The Secretary General of the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council Nasri Khoury stressed on Friday the daily coordination between the Lebanese and Syrian armies, adding that they hold field meetings on a weekly basis to this end.

He said after holding talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati: “The Syrian army did not infiltrate Lebanese territory as it had been claimed and the Lebanese army can vouch for this as it is responsible for controlling the situation on the border.”

He continued: “The media is trying to demonstrate that incursions had taken place and it has not backed its claim with any official source.”

“What happened in Arsal took place in an area that is disputed between Lebanon and Syria, where Lebanon claims it to be Lebanese and Syria claims it to be Syrian,” Khoury noted.

“The responsible committees are charged with tackling these disputed areas and therefore no incursion took place,” he remarked.

“We can’t label these areas as Lebanese or Syrian because the border between the two countries has not been demarcated,” he said.

Khoury later held talks with Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, after which he stressed his keenness on Syria’s security and stability.

“The Lebanese government should follow up on a few developments on the ground that the Syrian side believes harms its security,” he noted.

“There are agreements signed between Lebanon and Syria that need to be implemented,” he added.

On Tuesday, conflicting reports said that Syrian troops had infiltrated al-Qaa in the Bekaa region, killing two Syrian army defectors.

On October 4, Syrian tanks crossed the Lebanese border and headed towards the region of Arsal in the Bekaa where they fired at an abandoned battery factory.

On October 3, more than 20 Syrian soldiers infiltrated 500 meters deep into Lebanese territory in the area of Rajam Beit Khalaf and al-Kalkha in Wadi Khaled in the northern province of Akkar.

A few weeks prior to that Syrian troops entered part of northern Lebanon where they accidentally fired at Lebanese soldiers.