Marada Leader Suleiman Franjieh held a press conference in which he called on the Lebanese army to reveal the side stirring the situation on the Lebanese-Syrian borders, and reassured that Al-Qaida and terror are present in Lebano

Al-Marada Movement Leader former MP Suleiman Franjieh held a press conference on Monday in which he called on the Lebanese army to reveal the side stirring the situation on the Lebanese-Syrian borders, and reassured that Al-Qaida and terror are present in Lebanon.

Franjieh defended Lebanese Defense Minister Fayez Ghoson’s statement that terrorists are infiltrating into Lebanon through the Syrian borders, indicating that the army has reports that assure this information.

The former MP condemned the attacks on Ghoson because of his statements about Al-Qaida’s presence in Lebanon, and said that these are indirect attacks on the Lebanese army.

He recalled the campaign he was exposed to when he was defense minister saying: “I was exposed to the fiercest campaigns and accused of the assassination of (Rafiq) Hariri. Our stance always relied on security reports, but they used to insist on their stance, that I either state that the bomb was planted under the ground, or I get accused of the assassination.”

“Their aim was to break and scare us so that we reach a phase when we don’t dare speak about politics. Every time someone spoke, they accused him of the assassination of Rafiq Hariri. Today the Lebanese defense minister is being exposed to a similar campaign, and he is required of confidentiality, but I’m not… the Lebanese government has fallen behind on this issue,” Franjieh added.

He continued stating that “attacking minister Ghoson is an indirect attack on the military institution in order to disrupt its role… they want to protect extremism against Syria, and those who used the blood of Rafiq Hariri, are today using the blood of the sons of Ersal… the problem is that they made the Sunni sect believe that the Shiite and the Christians will take its role…”

In parallel, Al-Marada leader emphasized that “we are with the Syrian regime, but we will not take any act against Lebanon. We don’t raise President (Bashar) Al-Assad’s picture, we rather raise our president’s picture. We believe in having a good relation with Syria, but we don’t say that it is our reference. For us, Lebanon’s advantage is a priority, and history will prove that.”