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Suleiman Assures: Army is Fully Authorized to Strike Perpetrators in Sidon
[An Nahar] President Michel Suleiman...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... assured on Sunday that the army is "fully authorized" to strike the attackers in the latest festivities between the gunnies of Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and the army's forces in the southern city of Sidon. "The military institution is granted the full authorization to hit the attackers and arrest the perpetrators and the instigators and bring them to justice," Suleiman said on Twitter. He explained: "This is in order to preserve the security of the Lebanese and the dignity and image of the army." In a released statement, the president also slammed calls for troops to defect from their units. "Joining jihad against the army only serves the interests of Leb's enemies, he stated. "These calls will not be heeded by Lebanese and Paleostinian citizens or army troops." Posted by: Fred 2013-06-24 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=370834 |