UN backs Lebanon fight against Takfiris

The UN Security Council has voiced support for Lebanon’s military action against foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants, condemning the attacks by the terrorists in the country.

The 15-member Council on Monday “expressed support for the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces in their fight against terrorism.”

The Council also called on Lebanese politicians to “preserve national unity” and “refrain from any involvement in the Syrian crisis.”

On Saturday afternoon, violence erupted in eastern Lebanon after soldiers arrested a Syrian man who the army said confessed to belonging to al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front.

Angered by the arrest, the Takfiri militants opened fire on army checkpoints and stormed a police station in a border area.

The army announced on Monday that 22 Lebanese soldiers were missing, possibly taken hostage, while a military source said 16 others had been killed in clashes since Saturday.

On the same day, the army sent reinforcements and fired mortar rounds at militant positions in the mountains around the eastern border town of Arsal.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Tammam Salam has vowed that there would be “no leniency towards the terrorist killers and no appeasement for those who violate Lebanon’s territory and harm its people.”

The Takfiri militants are said to have infiltrated into Lebanon from Syria’s mountainous al-Qalamoun region.