March 14 Says only Army Protects Border, Confident Troops won't be Dragged to Battle outside Lebanon
Officials in the March 14 coalition have stressed that only the Lebanese army should defend Lebanon after Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said his party will attack militants in Syria's Qalamoun region that lies on the border with Lebanon.
“Only the legitimate armed forces led by the army and its troops should defend Lebanon from the fire that could erupt on Lebanon's border,” the March 14 leaders told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat published Thursday.
Nasrallah said in a televised speech late Tuesday that his group will attack al-Nusra Front and Islamic State fighters in Qalamoun, adding that "time will tell" when the battle will become full blown.
He stressed there will be no formal announcement before the widely anticipated battle begins.
March 14 sources also expressed confidence that the Lebanese army will not be dragged into a battle outside Lebanese territories.
The unidentified sources made their remarks to An Nahar newspaper.
Al-Mustaqbal MP Ahmed Fatfat, who is a member of the March 14 alliance, expressed similar viewpoints.
He told the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah daily that “the protection of the Lebanese border is the mission of the Lebanese army and not that of Hizbullah.”
Fatfat said that Nasrallah's warning on preparations for the Qalamoun battle aims at upping the morale of the Syrian-Iranian axis, whose plans are being implemented by the Shiite party in Lebanon and Syria.
The Qalamoun region was a stronghold of rebel forces until a major operation by Syrian regime troops backed by Hizbullah fighters last year.
While most of the region was recaptured, opposition militants and jihadists remain entrenched in the mountainous area that runs directly along the border, which is porous and ill-defined.
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