Phanage party MP Sami Gemayel condemned on Thursday the Syrian army’s incursion into the Lebanese territory.
“We consider that the Syrian army’s incursion into Lebanese territory is an assault by a foreign country against Lebanon and a violation of Lebanese sovereignty,” Gemayel said following his meeting with the EU Ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst.
Gemayel also said that “he holds the government responsible, because it did not issue any official stance or condemnation of the violation and did not summon the Syrian envoy or send a letter to the Arab League or the United Nations.”
Lebanon’s Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn tried to justify Syrian army violations of Lebanese territories by saying :” Those complaining about the Syrian move should be reminded about the daily Israeli land, maritime and airspace violations.”
He also tried to justify the killing of Syrian nationals by the Syrian troops inside Lebanon by saying
that unlike the US, Lebanon does not support the opposition in Syria.
“The US wants to support the Syrian opposition, but we don’t ,” Ghosn told Al-Manar TV after meeting with US Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly.
Ghosn said that the Syrian army’s incursion into Lebanon “is being investigated in order to find out what happened !”
Ghosn represents president Michel Suleiman in the cabinet which is dominated by Hezbollah a close ally of Syria and Iran
Syrian troops entered Lebanese territory on Thursday and shot dead a Syrian national living in a remote border area of the eastern Bekaa region, a security official told AFP.
Another Syrian patrol crossed the Lebanese borders, but this time in the North which triggered panic among residents.
According to As-Sharq al-Awsat newspapers Thursday edition, “around ten Syrian soldiers entered the Lebanese territory in the northern town of Halwas and patrolled the area on Wednesday.”
The daily quoted an unnamed local resident as saying that “the people are scared of the behavior of Syrian soldiers.”
This incident follows another in the Bekaa , which took place on Tuesday. Syrian army tanks crossed the Lebanese border near the town of Arsal and fired several gunshots within Lebanese territory.
Media outlets reported that the tanks fired in the direction of a battery factory in Aarsal, adding that the Syrian troops suspected fleeing gunmen had taken refuge in the building.
The Lebanese army has until now maintained complete silence about both incidents
Thousands of Syrians have fled into Lebanon in recent months, often using illegal border crossings, to flee the unrest gripping their country.
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