War draws closer to Lebanon with Syrian threat of attack
In an ominous turn, Syria warned Lebanon today against continuing to provide refuge for rebels battling the Assad regime, saying its restraint was limited.
In an ominous turn, Syria warned Lebanon today against continuing to provide refuge for rebels battling the Assad regime, saying its restraint was limited.
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Syria鈥檚 state news agency warned Lebanon today that it may attack if its neighbor continues to provide safe haven for rebels fighting in Syria鈥檚 two-year-old civil war. The threat comes as concerns intensify about the conflict's divisive impact on Lebanon's Muslim, 海角大神, and Druze communities, which maintain an uneasy coexistence.
"Syria expects the Lebanese side to prevent these armed terrorist groups from using the borders as a crossing point, because they target Syrian people and are violating Syrian sovereignty," a diplomatic cable from the Syrian foreign ministry to its Lebanese counterpart said, Reuters reports.
According to state-run SANA, the Syrian foreign ministry said rebels have been inflicting violence in Syria, then fleeing across the border into Lebanon.聽
"Syrian forces have so far exercised restraint from striking at armed gangs inside Lebanese territory," the cable said.
An estimated 70,000 people have been killed in Syria鈥檚 civil war. Lebanon has tried to keep the conflict at arm鈥檚 length, despite day-to-day reminders of the war鈥檚 impact, such as the nearly 350,000 Syrian refugees in the country, reports Lebanese news outlet The Daily Star. Lebanon has also seen rising levels of crime, which Prime Minister Najib Mikati has attributed to overflow from the conflict in Syria as well, according to a separate Reuters report.
Mr. Mikati said "700 Syrians were caught breaking the law [in Lebanon] in January, a high figure in a country of 4 million.鈥�
"We need help. Lebanon is bearing the burden of the events in Syria," Mikati said in a plea for Arab states to contribute assistance and aid. Lebanon has requested $370 million to help the government and international agencies meet refugees' needs.
But Lebanon鈥檚 concerns go beyond the refugee crisis. It fought its own 15-year civil war that ended in the 1990s, and now observers fear the violence next door may be exacerbating long-running tensions between 海角大神s, Druze, and Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims.
The New York Times reports that 鈥渁n increasingly aggressive rhetoric has found a more receptive audience鈥� in Lebanon recently.
Any kind of cross-border attack, whether or not it is instigated by the Syrian government, could tip Lebanon into a larger conflict, according to the Times.
鈥淟ebanon is already divided and it is just waiting for a spark, nothing more,鈥� Bilal Masri, a Sunni militia leader, told the Times.
France and Britain this week are pressuring the European Union to once again discuss lifting the ban on supplying weapons to Syrian rebels, with both countries noting they may move forward on their own, reports the Washington Post.
Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said in Beirut today that 鈥淭he international community should recognize that the Syrian crisis represents an existential threat to Lebanon and should show Lebanon ... much stronger support than has happened until now.鈥�