(ARSAL, LEBANON) — Army Commander General Jean Kahwaji assured Lebanese families that the military command in Arsal will spare no effort to secure the quick release of missing soldiers believed to be held by Syrian militants.
“The issue of the captured personnel is the Army’s top priority at this time. The command will not bargain over the blood of its martyrs and wounded or the freedom of its missing soldiers,” Kahwaji said. “The Army is ready for all possibilities in order to secure the safety of its missing personnel, and to bring them back to their families and their institution.”
Earlier Tuesday the Army command confirmed the death of a soldier who was killed in the fighting against jihadist militants in Arsal over a week ago. He was among 19 other military casualties.
In the meantime, Kahwaji said the Lebanese Army saved Lebanon from jihadist before they could declare their own state.
“The Army saved Lebanon from killer ‘sectarian strife-seekers’ by the Arsal battle,” Kahwagi told local newspaper As-Safir in remarks published Monday.
“Had the Army lost, (jihadists) would have entered Akkar, and from there they would have reached the sea and declared their own state.”
At least 60 militants were killed, in addition to 19 troops and over 15 civilians in five days of clashes triggered by the arrest of a Syrian militant, Imad Ahmad Jomaa, on August 2nd.
Over 20 security personnel, including 10 troops, are still missing, believed to be held hostage by the militants who retreated into rugged territory to the east of Arsal under an agreement brokered by the Muslim Scholars Committee.
Families of missing soldiers and security forces Tuesday protested against their kidnapping, while expressing full solidarity with the Army in its fight against terrorism.