Western, Arab Powers Express Fears over ISIL Plan to Create Passage to Lebanon's Sea
International and regional countries are “gravely concerned” of attempts by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to create a safe passage to the sea in northern Lebanon.
According to As Safir newspaper published on Saturday, Arab and Western countries voiced concern, during security meetings held in various regional countries, on an ISIL scheme to take control of a swath of territory in Lebanon in order to reach the sea.
Sources told the daily that a western official informed Lebanese authorities that such a option is a “red line.”
“It will never happen at any cost,” the unnamed official said.
Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji has accused on Friday the Islamic State group of seeking to ignite civil war in Lebanon and of relying on sleeper cells in the northern district of Akkar and the port city of Tripoli.
In an interview with the French daily Le Figaro, Qahwaji said the terrorists were counting on the cells in northern Lebanon and on the backing of some Sunni figures to achieve their objectives.
He also accused them of seeking to create a safe passage to the sea in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
They believe they can achieve that in Lebanon by linking the Syrian Qalamun mountains with Lebanon's northeastern town of Arsal and then Akkar district, the General told Le Figaro.
The army engaged in heavy clashes with the militants after they overran Arsal in August and took with them soldiers and policemen as hostages.
Three of the so-called Arsal hostages were executed in September and August – two of them were beheaded while one was shot dead.
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