BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army said on Friday it would remain the guarantor of Lebanon’s unity, assuring citizens there were no indicators that regional and international conflicts would reflect negatively on Lebanon.
In a rare statement issued by the Guidance Directory of the Lebanese Army Command and addressing army soldiers, the command stressed that the army “will remain the guarantor of the unity and the sustainability of the nation, and [it] will not allow opportunists under any slogan, or circumstance, to mix between political disputes and the path of security and stability in order to tamper with security and inflame the fires of sectarian tensions.”
“Rumors and predictions have increased recently over the fate of the situation in the country due to international and regional conflicts reflecting on the internal arena and over a possible sectarian strife that might take place after the issuance of the indictment by the international tribunal and jeopardize the unity of army and security institutions,” said the statement entitled “There is no place for sectarian strife under any circumstance or slogan.”
“The [Lebanese Army] Command notes there are no indicators in the current period that different conflicts will reflect negatively on the internal arena, and stresses that all sides should make efforts to strengthen this arena and resort to the army that works for the sake of the nation and its entire people away from political, sectarian and other bickering,” added the statement.
Fears of Sunni-Shiite strife have mounted after Hizbullah said it expected some of its members to be targeted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) probing the assassination of late Premier Rafik Hariri.
Hizbullah’s secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, slammed the STL in July as “an Israeli project” that targeted the resistance group.
The party and the rest of March 8 coalition called for investigating false witnesses who they said had misled investigations into the murder.
However, rival March 14 parties, headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of slain former Premier Rafik Hariri, said false witnesses could only be probed after the STL issued its indictment.
The Army Command said the diversity of the opinions of the Lebanese regarding raised matters was a well-known democratic phenomenon as long as it did not touch national principles.
The Army Command said the diversity of the opinions of the Lebanese regarding raised matters was a well-known democratic phenomenon as long as it did not touch national principles.
“But tying those differences to divisions and sectarian strife poses a danger to the country, and we will definitely not allow this to happen.”
The army lashed out at sides spreading rumors regarding the unity of the Lebanese Army and security forces following the issuance of the impending indictment. “It indicates the inability of those [sides] to make political gains and [pursue] private interests and their attempt to undermine the first national institution that represents a red line for all Lebanese,” said the statement.
The statement gave assurances that the “army that was able to preserve the unity and safety of its institutions during the peak of political divisions in recent years is at the maximum state of solidity as it was and even more due to the alertness of soldiers, their awareness of their role and the rightness of their command’s positions, and their readiness for the maximum sacrifice in line with their military and national principles.”
The army noted that its main mission to defend the country’s borders against Israeli aggression would not affect its readiness to combat terrorism, pursue Israeli agents and preserve civil peace.
The statement noted that the army had not attempted in the past, and would not in the future, “to strengthen one political faction at the expense of the other,” adding that the “army’s goal was, and will remain, to protect the state institutions and all citizens.”
Finally, the Army Command called for uniting ranks and pursuing additional readiness to confront different scenarios at their inception. “The army also calls on all concerned sides to exercise awareness and responsibility as required by the current period and assures citizens that their wagering on the army is well-placed,” added the statement. –The Daily Star
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