Qahwaji Says No Post-Term 'Ambitions', Army Seeking to Prevent 'Qaa-Like' Attacks
As the expiry of his tenure looms in the horizon, Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji has revealed that he does not have “ambitions” regarding any post.
“The military institution is in charge of protecting Lebanon,” Qahwaji added in remarks to LBCI television that were broadcast Thursday, describing the army as “the State's backbone.”
“The more we preserve this institution, the more this institution would be preserving the State,” LBCI quoted Qahwaji as saying.
Lebanon has had three presidents who served as army commanders prior to their election and most army chiefs are usually perceived as potential presidential candidates.
Qahwaji's current term as army chief expires next month. His tenure has been extended twice since 2013 despite political objections, especially from the Free Patriotic Movement, which says it rejects term extensions for any military or security official.
Separately, the army chief told LBCI that “the decision has been taken to eradicate all terrorist groups” in the restive Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp.
“The surrender of several fugitives to the army that we are witnessing nowadays is only the first step,” he said.
“It is true that the senior militants and those wanted in major cases will not turn themselves in but the army will keep tracking them, especially Imad Yassine, the head of the Islamic State-linked cell,” Qahwaji vowed.
“The first objective is to besiege these groups and prevent them from staging acts of sabotage outside the camp,” Qahwaji added, revealing that “several of Yassine's plots were foiled through monitoring his phone calls and movements.”
“Some of the foiled plots were targeted against shopping malls and touristic sites in the capital and its suburbs,” the general noted.
Qahwaji also admitted that “the situation in the South was very dangerous” prior to the surrender of the fugitives. However, “the level of danger decreased after the fugitives in the camp started turning themselves in,” he added.
Turning to the situations on Lebanon's eastern border with Syria, Qahwaji noted that the army's latest preemptive strikes against the terrorist groups were aimed at preventing attacks similar to the unprecedented multiple suicide bombings that rocked the Christian border town of al-Qaa earlier this year.
Militants from Fateh al-Sham Front – formerly known as al-Nusra Front -- and its jihadist rival, Islamic State, are entrenched in rugged areas along the undemarcated Lebanese-Syrian border and the army regularly shells their posts while Hizbullah and the Syrian army have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border.
The two groups briefly overran the town of Arsal in August 2014 before being ousted by the army after days of deadly battles.
