‘Some Lebanese Incubating Terrorist Elements against Syria’

Syria has sent a letter to the United Nations accusing some Lebanese sides of helping militants to take root along the Syrian border with Lebanon.

Syria has sent a letter to the United Nations accusing some Lebanese sides of helping militants to take root along the Syrian border with Lebanon. jaafari UN

For their part, Prime Minister Najib Miqati and al-Mustaqbal (Future)party hit back at Damascus accusations.
“Some Lebanese areas next to the Syrian border are incubating terrorist elements from al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, who are messing with the security of Syrian citizens and work on undermining the United Nations Special Envoy’s plan,” Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Jaafari wrote.

The letter, which was sent to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council, was delivered on Thursday and obtained by Reuters on Friday.

“In some areas (of Lebanon) ... warehouses have been set up for weapons and ammunition that is arriving to Lebanon illegally, either by sea, or sometimes through using the planes of specific countries to transport weapons to Lebanon and then smuggle them to Syria, under the excuse that they (aircraft) are carrying humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees,” Jaafari said.

The envoy specifically said that “headquarters of charities related to Salafist groups and Al-Mustaqbal movement became place for sheltering terrorists.”

MIQATI, MUSTAQBAL RESPONSE
Responding to Jaafari’s letter, Miqati described the accusations as “divisive”.
“We consider the allegations of the Syrian representative to be divisive at a time when we are seeking calm,” the National News Agency quoted Miqati as saying in a statement on Friday.

“Violations are also taking place on the Syrian side of the border and everyone knows the difficulty of controlling such a wide border area between [Lebanon and Syria],” the PM added.
For its part, al-Mustaqbal described the letter as “fabricated accusations aimed at diverting attention from (President Bashar al-Assad) regime’s blatant crimes.”

“The Mustaqbal Movement categorically denies the content of the letter sent by Syria’s envoy to the U.N. Bashar al-Jaafari on behalf of his country to the United Nations and its secretary general Ban Ki-moon,” the party said in a statement.