BEIRUT: Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit has offered his country’s assistance in rebuilding Lebanon’s army, in a bid to improve security amid ongoing sectarian tensions.
North Lebanon has witnessed in the past two months repeated clashes between Sunni followers of the Western-backed government and others loyal to the opposition, led by Hezbollah.
The Egyptian official expressed readiness that his country “would help in rebuilding the capabilities of the Lebanese army and the security sector.” Aboul Gheit was speaking in Beirut following a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
Aboul Gheit expressed his concern about the situation in the north of the country, where clashes between rival factions have recently taken place. “The message is that you have to be careful so that the situation in Tripoli does not blow up. All sides should act along calculations that do not lead to collisions between brethren and members of the one people,” Aboul Gheit advised.
“The Egyptian support would help the Lebanese Army shoulder its responsibilities,” he added. Egypt has “major capabilities in this respect,” he stressed.
Aboul Gheit, who arrived in Beirut for a one-day visit, also met with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and House Speaker Nabih Berri.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned last week that his country would hit back harder than in the 2006 war if Hezbollah fighters attacked again. Hezbollah’s leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, threatened in return on Sunday that the response from his fighters would also be more fierce than in the 33-day war two years ago.
In another development, Lebanese security officials and Palestinian officials in Lebanon said that an exchange of gunfire between rival factions in a south Lebanon Palestinian refugee camp wounded four people.
The officials said yesterday’s clash in the Ein El-Hilweh camp was between Al-Qaeda followers of the Jund Al-Sham group and members of the mainstream Palestinian Fatah faction. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, say the wounded is a Fatah supporter. Further details were not available.
