Nasrallah Says 'Security under Control': We Won't Allow Displacement of Qaa Residents
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah reassured Friday that the security situation in Lebanon is “under control” after security fears engulfed the country in the wake of unprecedented suicide attacks in the eastern border town of al-Qaa and amid a flurry of media reports about possible terrorist attacks in the country.
“Through the ongoing security investigations, I believe that some people will know the identity of the handler who sent the suicide bombers to al-Qaa,” said Nasrallah during a speech marking Quds Day.
“All indications suggest that the suicide bombers did not come from the refugee encampments (around al-Qaa) but rather from the posts of Daesh (Islamic State group) in the outskirts of (the nearby border town of) Arsal,” Nasrallah added.
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq had on Wednesday also announced that the bombers did not come from the encampments but rather from “Raqa,” the de facto Syrian capital of the IS group.
Addressing Hizbullah's critics who argue that the party's involvement in the Syrian war has led to terrorist attacks inside Lebanon, Nasrallah noted that suspected IS militants have staged a spectacular attack on Istanbul's airport in recent days although Turkey “has not fought the IS.”
“Turkey has kept it border open for the crossing of thousands of militants. The problem lies in the ideology of the IS, al-Qaida and al-Nusra Front, which is the same Wahhabi ideology that is present in Saudi Arabia,” Nasrallah added.
“Had it not been for our preemptive war, you would have witnessed eight suicide bombers everyday in the various Lebanese towns and villages … Had it not been for the efforts of the army and the security agencies and Hizbullah's preemptive war, we would have found monsters on our border and we would not have managed to repel them,” he said.
Commenting on the security fears in the country, Nasrallah said the Lebanese “must not let anyone scare them about a possible collapse of the security situation in Lebanon.”
“The security situation is under control and I call on the Lebanese and all the people of the region to place their confidence in the Lebanese security forces and agencies,” he stated.
“A breach occurred in al-Qaa but nothing can be 100% guaranteed. Look at what happened in Turkey, France, Belgium, the US and Russia. Had we continued the preemptive war in the border region, al-Qaa's attack would not have happened, but everyone knows the political situation in Lebanon and how things are being run,” Nasrallah lamented.
And calling for an “official, national anti-terror strategy,” Nasrallah vowed that Hizbullah will not allow the IS to “displace the residents of al-Qaa.”
“Al-Qaa is like Hermel and all of Bekaa's residents are our people. We are neighbors and we won't allow that al-Qaa's residents be displaced. We will protect you 'with our eyes' and this is a national, ethical, human and religious commitment,” he pledged.
Four suicide bombings rocked al-Qaa on Monday evening, injuring eight people, only hours after four suicide bombers killed five people and wounded 15 others in the town before dawn.
Al-Qaa and the nearby Ras Baalbek are the only two towns with a Christian majority in the predominantly Shiite Hermel region, where Hizbullah holds sway.
The group has sent thousands of its fighters to Syria to bolster President Bashar Assad's forces against rebels and jihadist extremists trying to topple him.
Several deadly bombings have targeted Hizbullah's strongholds in the eastern Bekaa region and Beirut's southern suburbs since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011. Most of the attacks were claimed by extremist groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State.
The attacks killed scores of civilians and wounded hundreds.
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