Aoun: Israel has ambitions in Lebanon, some forget it

FPM leader MP Michel AounFree Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said on Wednesday that some Lebanese forget the Israeli threats around Lebanon and try to link Syrian events with Lebanese ones in order to spread chaos. “Today, someone is trying to link Syrian events with incidents in Lebanon in order to spread chaos and reach a state of desperation,” Aoun said during a ceremony celebrating the Resistance and Liberation Day, which marks the 2000 withdrawal of Zionist occupation troops from part of South Lebanon. “Israel, undoubtedly, has ambitions in Syria and Lebanon. This is the essence of struggle,” he also said. “Israel withdrew from South Lebanon in 2000, but they still insist on… tampering with Lebanon’s stability. The 2006 July War was not a coincidence. They planned it, and used Hezbollah’s kidnapping of Israeli soldiers as a pretext to launch the war.” He also warned that some groups were attempting to drag the Resistance into “domestic struggles.” “What is unfortunate is that many Lebanese people deviated from the resistance path and forgot the Israeli threat.” Aoun commented on Tuesday’s kidnapping of Lebanese men in Syria, calling it a “terrorist act.” On Tuesday, Lebanese citizens were kidnapped in Aleppo province as they were headed back home by bus from a pilgrimage in Iran. Their families said that they were abducted by the Free Syrian Army. The FPM leader also addressed the release of Shadi al-Mawlawi, saying: “It is inappropriate to celebrate the release of a [person] supposedly accused of at least smuggling arms.” Aoun also said that Sunday’s killing of a Sunni cleric “was not an assassination” and voiced hope that the investigation into the matter would end soon. Army troops shot dead sheikh Ahmad Abdul Wahed and his bodyguard after they refused to stop at a military checkpoint.