Syria complains to Lebanon over British-built border towers

After “years of monitoring the U.S. and British activities on the Lebanese-Syrian border,” the Syrian government has decided to send an official letter to the Lebanese government regarding “the towers that are spread along the border, from the mouth of the Grand River in the north to beyond the Rashaya region in the Bekaa,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday.

The letter, delivered by the Syrian foreign ministry to its Lebanese counterpart, describes the British-constructed towers as “a threat to Syrian national security,” the daily said.

According to the British embassy in Lebanon, the joint border project has reinforced the authority of the Lebanese state along its land border with Syria where Four Land Border Regiments from the Lebanese Army have been deployed from the North in Arida to the south in Jebel Al Sheikh.

The Syrian letter decries that the border towers contain “sensitive surveillance and spy equipment” that “cover areas deep into Syrian territory and collect information about the Syrian interior.”

“The information resulting from these equipment reaches the hands of the British and the Israeli enemy benefits from the information to bomb Syrian territory and carry out strikes deep inside Syria,” the letter charges, according to al-Akhbar.

Sources close to the British embassy meanwhile told the daily that “the embassy is proud of the continued British support for the Lebanese Army and the land border regiments, which have contributed to the protection of the Lebanese border with Syria.”

“Through the watch towers, the army has managed to locate and prevent activities that include smuggling,” the sources added, without commenting on the letter’s content.