March 14 MP calls for summoning Syrian envoy over border violations

March 14 MP Boutros Harb said on Friday that the Lebanese government should summon Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali and protest against the Syrian army’s violation of Lebanese territories

“We asked Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour to summon the Syrian ambassador to inform him of Lebanon’s objection about the border violations, but he did not,” National News Agency reported.

Mansour is a member of the Amal Movement , a staunch supporter of the Syrian regime

“This border violation was planned, and it undermines the Lebanese sovereignty,” Harb added.

Harb also said that “not summoning the Syrian envoy means that the cabinet is partner with the Syrian regime in violating Lebanese sovereignty.”

Harb also voiced his surprise over the comparison made between Israeli border violations and the Syrian army’s border vilations

“Israel is an enemy, and the national position is united when it comes to rejecting Israeli violations of the Lebanese sovereignty,” Harb added.

Lebanon’s Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn tried to justify Syrian army violations of Lebanese territories on Thursday by saying :” Those complaining about the Syrian move should be reminded about the daily Israeli land, maritime and airspace violations.”

Ghosn 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.

Ghosn represents president Michel Suleiman in the cabinet !

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 all the border violations by the Syrian army

Thousands of Syrians have fled into Lebanon in recent months, often using illegal border crossings, to flee the unrest gripping their country.

March 14 outraged

March 14 MP Ammar Houry said on Thursday “what we’ve seen in the Bekaa town of Arsal confirms the Syrian identity of this government. ” He slammed the cabinet for ignoring the violations of the Lebanese territory by the Syrian army during its Wednesday ’s session.

Houry, in an interview with Voice of Lebanon , said” the government of Hezbollah exercised neutrality over the Lebanese sovereignty and buried its head in the sand like an ostrich.”

He added: “Maybe this government does not consider Arsal and some areas of the north as a Lebanese territory, and therefore its citizens should not be protected by it .”

Houry concluded: “There are those who objected to our branding of the overthrowing of the previous government as a “coup” by Hezbollah and Syria, while the current government is determined each day to to prove our point.

According to the United Nations, the Syrian regime’s crackdown on protests that erupted in mid-March has killed more than 2,900 civilians