Kahwaji vows to “hunt down spies wherever they are”
Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) Commander Jean Kahwaji said on Tuesday that the military”s efforts to crack down on terrorist and criminal cells were "relieving to the Lebanese," adding that the army would "hunt down spies and cells wherever they are."
Kahwaji said that security in the capital was a top priority for the army, "as Beirut brings together all the Lebanese and is home to Lebanon”s primary institutions, which are the foundations of the country."
During a tour of army bases in Beirut and its suburbs, Kahwaji said that the recent arrests of an alleged terrorist cell in Tripoli and an Israeli spy network in the Bekaa Valley were "accomplished through cooperation between the army and the security forces, along with assistance from the Palestinian leadership in the refugee camps."
"There will be no safe place for the criminals that have been rejected by the Palestinians and who are considered strangers by the Lebanese," Kahwaji said.
Kahwaji called for heightened awareness among LAF soldiers, whom he said should maintain "high readiness" to confront any possible Israeli attack, especially since the "the enemy is still performing maneuvers and increasing its violations of Lebanese territory."
"These maneuvers are direct threats against the LAF, the Lebanese and the resistance," he added.
The LAF commander also called on soldiers to prepare themselves to enforce security and stability during the 2009 parliamentary elections,"in a serious and professional manner and away from bias."
In separate developments, the LAF recently made more arrests of suspects linked to Fatah al-Islam terrorist group in Palestinian refugee camps in northern and southern Lebanon.
Members of the mainstream Fatah faction on Sunday arrested terror suspect Mohammad al-Dukhi in the southern refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh and handed him over to the LAF.
The Jund al-Sham militant, also known as "al-Jarrah," is wanted by the Lebanese judiciary on several charges and is accused of involvement in bombings in northern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper reported on Tuesday that leaders of the Fatah al-Islam terror network set up a fortified bunker at the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh to avert a crackdown by the mainstream Fatah faction.
Al-Hayat said Fatah al-Islam”s leader in Lebanon, Abed Awad, and his deputy, Osama al-Shehabi, were based at the heavily fortified bunker in Ain al-Hilweh”s Ras al-Ahmar district.
The bunker, according to the report, is protected by surveillance cameras and scores of bodyguards to ward off a possible attack by Fatah fighters.
Security sources told As-Safir newspaper that al-Jarrah belongs to Al-Qaeda and Fatah al-Islam and is accused of the October killing of Mustafa al-Khatib, a member of the Fatah faction in Ain al-Hilweh.
The Palestine Liberation Organization representative in Lebanon, Abbas Zaki, said efforts are under way to find Awad.
"There is an agreement between us and the Lebanese security forces to work together in order to avoid another Nahr al-Bared," Zaki said, in reference to last year”s battle between the LAF and Fatah al-Islam in the northern refugee camp.