March 14: Political Steps Needed to Defeat Terror, Lebanon Can't Keep Enduring Threats of Terrorism, Resistance

The March 14 General-Secretariat on Wednesday noted that security measures alone cannot put an end to the wave of bombings that is hitting Lebanon, although it hailed the efforts of the army and security forces in the wake of the arrest of top Qaida-linked militant Naim Abbas.

The general-secretariat said it discussed “the state of security chaos that is moving from one region to another, the last of which was the discovery of booby-trapped cars and rockets that were prepared for firing in several areas in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and the Bekaa.”

And as it highly appreciated “the efforts of the Lebanese Army and security agencies in tightening the noose on terrorism,” the general-secretariat stressed that “the combating of terrorism in Lebanon cannot remain limited to technical measures by the military institutions.”

It said the process requires additional “clear political measures, which must inevitably involve the deployment of the Lebanese Army along the Lebanese-Syrian border, with the assistance of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in line with (U.N. Security Council) Resolution 1701.”

"Lebanon – which loves life in all of its social, economic, political and athletic fields – cannot continue to endure two threats: terrorism and resistance,” the statement added.

"The Lebanon that (slain former premier) Rafik Hariri loved wants to live in peace, where there is one state, one army, one economy and one political decision," it said.

The March 14 General-Secretariat also called on March 14 supporters to take part in the February 14 rally that will commemorate Hariri's ninth assassination anniversary at the BIEL exhibition center in Beirut.

Only a few hours after Abbas made his confessions, the army started raiding arms depots in the al-Dibbiyeh and al-Saadiyat areas, where it seized explosives, rockets and fake IDs. Earlier on Wednesday, the army defused two booby-trapped cars in the Beirut area of Corniche al-Mazraa and the Bekaa area of al-Labweh.

Abbas, a Palestinian leader in the Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades, has been described as the group's number two man in Lebanon.

He has close ties to Sheikh Omar al-Atrash, a cleric from the Bekaa Valley who was arrested last month, and later charged with detonating bombs and explosive-rigged vehicles, attacking the army in Majdelyoun and al-Awwali bridge areas in the southern city of Sidon and launching rockets on Israel.

Several of the latest bombings in Hizbullah strongholds in Beirut's southern suburbs and the Bekaa have been claimed by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades whose leader, Majed al-Majed, was captured by Lebanese authorities in December and died in custody later.