Lebanon calls for support to fight ISIL

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has called for the support of all domestic parties and the international community to fight ISIL Takfiri militants, Press TV reports.

“First, we need political support from within [the country] and from the countries who pretend that they want to tackle terrorism,” he said in an interview with Press TV.

Bassil also warned against the growing threat of the ISIL Takfiri militants against Lebanon’s stability.

“We need media support, we need financial support, [and] we need arms,” he said, adding that only talking will not help Lebanon in its fight against the Takfiri terrorists.

The Lebanese foreign minister went on to say that terrorism fueled by the ISIL Takfiri group will adversely affect the whole region and even the whole world.

On Thursday, clashes continued between Lebanese army forces and the foreign-backed Takfiri militants who have crossed over into the country from neighboring Syria.

Violence erupted in eastern Lebanon on August 2 after soldiers arrested a Syrian man, who the army said confessed to belonging to the ISIL. Angered by the arrest, the Takfiri militants opened fire on army checkpoints and stormed a police station in a border area.

The army announced on August 4 that 22 Lebanese soldiers were missing, possibly taken hostage.

Following truce negotiations with the ISIL militants, they agreed to retreat from the town of Arasl and freed some prisoners on August 6.

The Takfiri militants apparently infiltrated into Lebanon from Syria’s mountainous al-Qalamoun region.

Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam had said that there would be “no leniency towards the terrorist killers and no appeasement for those who violate Lebanon’s territory and harm its people.”

IA/MHB/SS