Syrian Troops Deploy Off Bekaa
Syria has deployed extra troops on its borders with east Lebanon”s Bekaa Valley to combat smuggling and arrest fugitives, a Lebanese army official said on Thursday.
"Syria is deploying soldiers along the length of the border of eastern Lebanon, as it did in September on the northern border," said the official who asked not to be further identified.
"These reinforcements have been positioned for the same reasons which necessitated the deployment in the north, to combat smuggling and prevent wanted persons escaping across the Syrian-Lebanese border," he said.
"The Syrian troop movements have been coordinated between commanders of the Syrian and Lebanese armies," he said.
A local official, meanwhile, said almost 3,000 troops equipped with armored vehicles and heavy weapons had been deployed in a region facing the eastern Lebanese village of Ersal.
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, after contacts with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad earlier this month accepted that the troop movements along the border were aimed at tackling smuggling.
In September, the Lebanese army revealed the deployment of 10,000 Syrian Special Forces troops in the Abboudiyeh region along the northern border.
Members of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority in Lebanon, however, warned that Damascus could be setting the stage to return its forces to their country.
Syria, a longtime powerbroker in its smaller neighbor, withdrew its troops from Lebanon in 2005 after a deployment of three decades.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army Command said Gen. Jean Qahwaji was informed of the development by Chief of Staff of the Syrian Army Gen. Ali Habib.
The statement said Habib informed Qahwaji by telephone of the Syrian army”s deployment off Lebanon”s eastern borders "in the coming few days, after they completed their deployment off the northern borders of Lebanon."
It said the deployment falls in line with "arrangements aimed at halting smuggling and preventing the illegal crossing of individuals."
The Syrian move came a few days after U.S. troops attacked what they described as a base for transiting terrorists from Syria into Iraq.
Syria said the attack killed eight civilians in a building under construction.