Miqati Condemnds Arsal Clashes, Vows to Take Necessary Measures
Prime Minister Najib Miqati denounced on Saturday the clashes that occurred overnight in the eastern town of Arsal near the border with Syria, saying that the state will take all the necessary security and legal measures against the offenders and to restore calm in the area.
“The Army is carrying out its duty by defending the country and its citizens, no matter what sect or area they are from,” Miqati said after holding talks with Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn and Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji.
Ghosn and Qahwaji briefed the premier on the measures undertaken by the army to detain the offenders.
On Friday, two soldiers and a wanted man were killed in an ambush in the eastern town of Arsal near the border with Syria.
A military communique said that a patrol was ambushed by gunmen as it was hunting a man wanted for several terrorist acts.
The clashes that ensued left an officer with the rank of captain and a soldier dead, and several military personnel wounded, it added.
Miqati rejected “any use of arms outside state legitimacy or any attempts to target the army.”
He vowed to take all the necessary legal and security action to prevent Friday's incident from reccuring, calling on the residents of Arsal to cooperate with the army and hand over the offenders to restore calm.
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