Kataeb Questions Timing of Aoun's 'Escalation', Says Army Must Defend Border

The Kataeb Party on Monday criticized Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun without naming him, questioning the “timing” of his latest threats to resort to street action.

“Amid the renewal of the visits of envoys to Lebanon and some regional capitals with the aim of helping Lebanon rescue itself from the presidential void, some parties are continuing their obstruction,” said the party in a statement issued after its politburo's weekly meeting.

It warned of “alarming indications that are threatening governmental solidarity and pointing to further disintegration and collapse.”

“The Kataeb Party questions the timing, extent and motives behind the current escalation and the threats to resort to street action, at a time when all capabilities must be utilized to elect a president before September, during which the army chief's extended term will expire,” the party added.

It said two “positive developments” can happen simultaneously in September through “ending the vacuum and giving the elected president the right to take part in choosing the new army commander.”

On Sunday, Aoun warned that he may call for popular protests, amid a continued dispute over the appointment of the country's top security and military officials.

“They are picking puppet officials who fill the posts in an artificial manner,” Aoun told a popular delegation in Rabiyeh.

“Nowadays, we are voicing political objection, and me might reach a phase of popular objection, that's why we might summon you in the critical junctures to be by our side,” Aoun said.

The FPM chief has been lobbying for political consensus on the appointment of Commando Regiment chief Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz, his son-in-law, as army chief as part of a package for the appointment of other top security officers.

Separately, Kataeb commented on “the escalation of military battles in the border areas,” renewing its “confidence and support for the army.”

It called on all parties to refrain from encroaching on “the military institution's exclusive right” and not to “implicate it in non-innocent burdens.”

The party also stressed that it is for the army to decide what to do in the “threatened and unsafe areas, especially on the eastern border.”

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had recently warned that Hizbullah would intervene against the militants of al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State in the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal if the state failed to do so.

Since Wednesday, Hizbullah has made a series of military advances in Arsal's outskirts, capturing several posts from al-Nusra's hands.

Both Hizbullah and Aoun had called on the Lebanese state and army to “liberate” the town and its outskirts.

Y.R.

M.T.