Gen. Aoun: Army Won't Heed Malicious Voices Trying to Distort Its Sacred Duty

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun on Wednesday inspected military units in the Tufail region and Baalbek's outskirts on Syria's border.

An army statement said the commander “met with the officers and soldiers and gave them the necessary instructions.”

“General Aoun stressed the need to take all the needed measures on the ground to protect the border towns and villages and ensure the safety of their residents against any terrorist infiltration,” the statement added.

“He underscored the army's capabilities and its insistence on confronting the various difficulties that it might encounter during its efforts to oust the terrorist organizations, based on the combat skill that it has demonstrated at several junctures and the political and popular embracement it is enjoying,” the military said.

Aoun added: “The army, which has managed to protect Lebanon during the most difficult circumstances, will continue to protect it now and in the future at any cost and regardless of the sacrifices, and it will not heed the noise of some malicious voices that appear every now and then to distort its sacred duty of defending the country and preserving its security and stability.”

Prime Minister Saad Hariri had on Tuesday announced that the army will carry out "a planned-out operation in Arsal's outskirts" and that "the government gives it freedom (to do so)."

Jihadists from the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front groups are entrenched in mountainous areas along the Syrian-Lebanese border and in 2014 they overran Arsal before being ousted after days of deadly battles with the army.