The founder of the FPM ratified the support of the organization to Hezbollah claiming that the last ones are vital for the defense of Lebanese borders.
Hezbollah supporters parade as they mark Martyr’s Day in Tefahta, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. (The Daily Star/Mohammed Zaatari)
Michel Aoun, founder of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) has claimed that nowadays Lebanon needs Hezbollah’s support to protect its borders, praising at the same time the participation of the militants in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The politician added that nowadays Lebanon is facing war in its own territory and it is absolutely necessary to defend the borders of the country, and since the Lebanese army is not as big as required and also is not well equipped, Hezbollah seems to be the best option to carry out that task.
However, Hezbollah’s support to the FPM is not only in a military aspect, bus also politically since the movement is backing Michel Aoun to run for the presidency of Lebanon. The country has been without presidential leadership since 2014 when Michel Sleiman ended his term in May of that same year.
Aoun also reaffirmed the ten-year-long alliance of FPM with Hezbollah in his declarations to Lebanese media on Saturday. Earlier that day, the founder of the Free Patriotic Movement received a delegation of Hezbollah to confirm and celebrate the 10th anniversary of the signature of the memorandum that made possible the agreement with the militants in 2016.
Hajj Hussein Khalil, a senior aide to Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah stated that the detractors of both FPM and the group of which he is a representative have failed in their attempts to weaken the alliance.
Lebanon is currently not free of the extremism of the militants of the Islamic State since their proximity to neighboring Syria where the conflict is ongoing for about five years now.
In the outskirts of Arsal, a Lebanese town located on the border of Syria, militants of Daesh and the Al-Nusra Front have been operative since they briefly sieged the locality in 2014 to later withdraw taking several hostages from the Lebanese Police and Army, some of whom were executed and the rest were released after a prisoner swap deal took place in December last year.
Hezbollah has been taking part in the fight against Daesh in Syria altogether with the Syrian army and its allies, aiming to regain territories seized by the terrorists.
Written by Lisbeth Mechter