BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army said yesterday that Syria had boosted troop numbers along the border but that Damascus had stressed the move was linked to a crackdown against smugglers.
“Nearly 10,000 Syrian special forces have been deployed in the Abbudiya region along the border between Lebanon and Syria,” an army spokesman told AFP.
“We asked Damascus for clarification and we were told that the measures were strictly internal and on Syrian territory and that they were in no way directed against Lebanon,” he added.
The spokesman said the Syrian authorities had assured the Lebanese Army that the build-up was aimed at cracking down on smuggling activities and other crime along the border.
Lebanese newspaper Al-Mustaqbal, which is close to the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, said the troops had begun deploying along the northern border over the weekend.
The report sparked concern among anti-Syrian parties in Lebanon, which have accused Damascus of plotting to return troops to its smaller neighbor. Damascus was forced to withdraw its forces from Lebanon in 2005 after three decades of military and political domination.
Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency Director Mohamed El-Baradei told a meeting of the agency’s 35-nation board of governors in Vienna yesterday that an inquiry by the organization so far has found nothing to substantiate US intelligence suggesting Syria had almost built a covert nuclear reactor before Israel bombed the site a year ago.
