MP Ogassapian: General Kahwagi saved Lebanon

Future bloc MP Jean Ogassapian said Saturday that reports of the demands of the armed groups to release the abducted Lebanese army soldiers and security forces, may not be true, noting that Prime Minister Tammam Salam is assuming responsibility in dealing with this issue, while expressing keenness on the life of the missing soldiers.

In a statement to LBCI’s Nharkom Said, Ogassapian said that the negotiations conducted in this regard will take time, stressing the need to keep the secrecy and confidentiality of the procedure, “since any inappropriate intervention could harm the course of the mediation.”

In this regard, Ogassapian praised the behavior of the LAF Commander General Jean Kahwagi during the Arsal clashes, adding that “he saved the country.”

The arrest of Imad Jomaa at an army checkpoint triggered clashes between Syrian gunmen and the Lebanese army in the northeastern town of Arsal on Saturday (August 02).

The clashes left at least 20 soldiers dead and 86 injured, while at least 30 ISF and LAF soldiers remain missing, presumably kidnapped by the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front militants. 

On Thursday (August 07), a military source stated that a truce in Arsal appeared to be holding and the situation in the border town was quiet. 

The Muslim Scholars Committee has launched an initiative to ensure the return of the kidnapped soldiers and served as a mediator between the gunmen and the Lebanese authorities. 

The gunmen had issued a list of demands, which include the release of several Islamist inmates from the infamous Roumieh prison. A demand the interior minister had rejected. 

Lebanese security officials say the fighters include members of al Qaeda's Syria branch, the Nusra Front, and an al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State, which has seized swathes of land in Syria and Iraq.